A New Life For the Dimensional Counterparts
by Greatninjadragon
Summary: Everything seems back to normal. The Yu Boys and Bracelet Girls may have found a way to separate and will bond, spend different days with each other, and even duel. Various interactions between the different counterparts.
1. Prologue

"Sky Magician attack Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon." Yusho commands his monster. Yuya tries to reach for the action card but he barely misses. The attack continues and Yuya's ace monster is destroyed and his life points go to 0. The screens then flash Yusho's picture and name to declare him the winner.

It was just after Reira laughed as a sign that Zarc's soul had been purified and the return of Yuzu. Yuya Sakaki's father, Yusho Sakaki challenged him to a duel. Despite all of Yuya's growth as a duelist over his adventure to save Yuzu, stop the dimensional war, and stopping Zarc, Yuya still wound up losing to his father. Though he didn't care because it was an entertaining duel.

As Yuya lied down, Yuzu knelt down to talk to him. "Yuya, you did really great." Yuya says with a big smile.

"Thanks Yuzu. I mean I lost but my dad is really-" Yuya says but gets cut off by Yuzu. "No I didn't mean that. I mean everything you went through. You're amazing."

Seeing Yuzu's smile drew a big grin on Yuya's face. The two are then surrounded by their friends complimenting him on his duel. Things got a little distracting for them when Yoko started hugging and kissing Yusho. It wasn't surprising since she just remembered that her husband went missing for 3 years and all those feelings of missing him just came rushing back. Yuzu watched the open display of affection and started feeling a tug at her heart. _"What are you thinking about?"_

"Huh." Yuzu says from hearing a voice. She then noticed the transparent image of Serena next to her who was the one that just spoke to her. _"You seemed to be in a trance by how those two are acting. Why is that?"_ Serena asks inside Yuzu's head.

" _Isn't it obvious Serena? Yuzu wants to have what they have."_ Rin pops up followed by Ruri chiming in. _"And I know whom she wants to have it with."_

Yuzu just blushes at their teasing with Serena having an oblivious look on her face. Yuzu ignores her counterparts and turns to Yuya to talk to him. "Yuya. When everything calms down, I want to meet you in private."

Some time later, Yuzu is sitting on a couch in a waiting room Reiji provided so she could talk privately with Yuya. Yuya walked to the room muttering to himself what Yuzu could want to talk to him about. The conversation with himself soon drags in his own counterparts inside his mind.

"I wonder what Yuzu wants to meet me about?" Yuya ponders.

" _Maybe another threat is happening and wants to tell us."_ Yuri brings up.

" _Don't you think you're jumping the gun too much Yuri? Besides if there was a threat don't you think she would tell us the moment she came back."_ Yuto adds.

" _Yeah besides what on earth could ever possibly a bigger threat than Zarc?"_ Yugo asks entering the conversation.

" _I was only speculating given our own lives haven't gave us a moment of peace recently Fusion."_ Yuri explains followed by Yugo yelling, _"It's Yugo!"_

"Calm down you guys. I'm sure it's nothing." Yuya says before then saying out loud. "Oh, maybe she knows how to separate us."

" _That's a possibility."_ Yuto says.

" _Do you really think so?"_ Yugo states enthusiastically.

" _I hope she does."_ Yuri adds.

Yuya opens the door to the waiting room and sees Yuzu sitting on the couch. She motions for him to sit next to him and he does. After a bit of uncomfortable silence, Yuzu finally speaks. "You've been through a lot Yuya."

"Yeah I have. Probably still going through some stuff since Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are now a permanent part of me." Yuya says.

"I know what you mean. Serena, Rin, and Ruri are a part of me too." Yuzu says going from nervous to casual in her tone.

"You wouldn't know how to separate them or anything like that do you?"

"No why would I? The four of us were suspended in a container as energy all day before coming back."

"Good point. So what is it that you want to talk to me about and why in private?"

Yuzu then exhales and decides to get on with it. Though she does feel brave about saying it since her counterparts convinced her. With a small smile Yuzu tells Yuya.

"The reason why I want to talk to you in private is so no one can distract us. The dimensional war and the truth about who we were was nothing but stressful. It all became too much but I kept pushing through. And it's all thanks to you."

"Me?" Yuya points at himself.

"Yes. I knew you would keep trying to find me and stop everything. You're a determined person and unbelievably kind. Even if when you're at your lowest, you still continue to move forward and even if it takes a while, you do it with a smile. Those actions even made other people smile. That kind of attitude gave me hope that everything would be alright and I was right."

"You think too highly of me Yuzu." Yuya interrupts with his perspective. "The reason I kept trying was because of you Yuzu. I wanted you back no matter what I had to go through. Things got tough because everywhere I went it felt like the world was so apathetic and cruel. But I knew, just like you said, if I kept smiling and bringing smiles to others things would be better. Of course, things wouldn't be perfect until you were back and safe."

"And that's why I love you."

With that one sentence, Yuya was blown away. Yuzu, his childhood friend, loved him. It kind of made him froze for a second from surprise, which he got over because his counterparts quickly started rooting for/ordering him to respond.

"I love you too." Yuya responds with a big smile. "Always have and will."

Upon hearing that, Yuzu leans in a kisses Yuya, which he returns. They separate and let their foreheads touch while holding each other. During this their counterparts watch them.

" _Well looks like Yuya gets his happy ending."_ Yuto congratulates.

" _Looks like it though we're still merged with him."_ Yuri points out.

" _Man he's lucky. Wish me and Rin could interact like those two."_ Yugo laments. Yuya heard that and thinks to himself, _"Yeah, I wish you could too Yugo."_

At the same time, Yuzu's counterparts were commenting on the sight.

" _All right. Congratulations Yuzu."_ Rin cheered.

" _Well they look happy. That's good."_ Serena comments.

" _Seeing them makes me wish I could see Yuto again."_ Ruri yearns. Hearing that Yuzu thinks to herself, _"I hope you do Ruri."_

Suddenly Yuya starts glowing green and Yuzu glows yellow. After a bright flash, the glowing stops and sitting in their place in the same hugging position are Yugo and Ruri. The two counterparts look at each other in confusion.

"Yuto?" Ruri asks.

"Rin!" Yuya shouts as he then gives Ruri a big hug. One she breaks out of by headbutting the synchro counterpart.

"I'm not Rin! I'm Ruri!" Ruri yells.

"Huh. You're not Yuri. You're a girl." Yugo says which causes Ruri to start shouting that her names Ruri and not Yuri. Yugo can't help but think, _"So that's what it feels like."_

With all the shouting the two were doing they get attention of Reiji's security who look at them strangely.

Yugo and Ruri were taken to Reiji and Leo to see this sudden change in people. After the two explain to the Akaba's the series of events that led to this, Reiji hits on an idea. When he heard the part about what Yugo and Ruri wanted after Yuzu and Yuya's kiss as well as them adding from Yuya and Yuzu that they thought about them getting what they wanted too, he figures that they can switch bodies with any of their counterparts so long as main body and the counterpart inside them both wish it. They try this out by having Yugo and Ruri wanting Yuya and Yuzu respectively to appear. Nothing happens immediately, but moments later, they both glow red and change back into Yuya and Yuzu.

A couple hours later, Reiji and Leo Akaba have analyze and performed various tests on Yuya and Yuzu to see what is going with them and their counterparts along with this new ability to switch bodies. After looking over the data, they go to talk to Yuya and Yuzu, who both currently control the main body.

"We looked over all the results and here's what we concluded." Reiji explains to the two. "We believe it's possible to separate your respective dimensional counterparts from your bodies."

"Really!" Yuya shouts in surprise.

"How do we do that?" Yuzu asks.

"From what we've found, whenever you switch places, the main body emits a faint but unique energy signature. It's similar to the energy signature of the Arc Area Project but it's more accurate to say that's it's similar to the energy released by Ray and Reira when they separated Zarc." Leo explains. "The tests also show that the energy can be affected by interacting with one another and with various different interactions amongst the counterparts for an extended period of time can cause this energy to be strong enough, that in theory, you'll eventually become four people again."

"If you wish to separate your counterparts, here's what I suggest. For the next sixteen days, the two of you will spend most of a day together as a different counterpart." Reiji proposes.

"Huh, why 16 days?" Yuya questions the obvious since he wasn't all that good at math.

"Since the two of you are each technically four people in one, that means sixteen possible combinations of two counterparts interacting. I suggest you figure out a way to determine who will spend the day with whom and when." Reiji further expounds.

"Don't worry we can do that." Yuzu says.

"Oh also one more thing. During each day, have the counterparts duel each other." Reiji adds.

"Why? Do you think it'll help with the energy or whatever?" Yuya asks and Reiji just replies, "My theory is that a duel could enhance the energy especially since what separated Zarc and Ray into four people was from a duel. Plus, since dueling seems to solve most of our problems, it might help."


	2. Yuya & Rin

The next day, Gongenzaka, Sawatari, Sora, and Tsukikage were waiting outside the gates of an amusement park. Yesterday when Reiji and Leo told Yuya and Yuzu about how they could separate their counterparts, they went and told all their friends and family about this revelation on what they plan to do. They also told them that they are now a couple, which got several reactions of congratulations ranging from Gongenzaka hugging both of them to Yoko and Syuzo jumping to the conclusion that they'll get married.

After all that, Yuya and Yuzu made a list of different combinations of their counterparts and were able to figure out who will be in control of the main body when by putting the list in a random list generator Yuzu found online. It seemed like an odd and kind of silly sounding way of figuring it out will be who when, but it's effective.

Today the four friends would help whoever they were meeting have fun today. Sora then spots a familiar face and calls out to him. The first to show up was Yuya.

"Hey, Sora, Gongenzaka, Sawatari, and Tsukikage. Huh, Tsukikage why are you here?" Yuya greets everyone until noticing the mysterious ninja.

"I still consider myself a Lancer and have made it a mission of mine to help make your day more enjoyable." Tsukikage explains. The way he said it annoys Sawatari a little who replies, "Oh please, just admit that you consider us friends and want to spend time with us including the awesome, stupendous, and amazing Sawatari."

"Oh who is this amazing Sawatari anyway?" Says a girl approaching them. She looks just like Yuzu but they notice that her hair is two shades of green and her eyes are amber.

"Well better properly introduce you guys. Everybody this is Rin, Yuzu's synchro dimension counterpart. Rin these are my friends Gongenzaka, Sawatari, Sora, and Tsukikage." Yuya introduces.

"Hello everyone it's a pleasure to meet all of you." Rin greets them.

"Well now let's start the fun." Sora announces with them going inside to enjoy the rides. Inside Yuya's mind, Yugo is crying from depression.

" _Yuya's so lucky. I want to spend the day with Rin at the amusement park."_ Yugo cries before then asking, _"What's an amusement park anyway?"_

" _Not sure. I've never been to one."_ Yuri says.

Yuto just looks at the two and comes to a realization. _"Oh god. I have to spend the entire day with you two."_

In the amusement park, Rin is completely awestruck by all the rides and general atmosphere of fun. Rin's life of being an orphaned Common meant that with the exception of dueling, there was hardly any fun for her and Yugo. This was a completely new experience for her.

They start things off on the rollercoaster with Rin loving because of the speed, Sawatari hating also because of the speed, and Tsukikage remaining calm while the others enjoy themselves. They go on the pendulum ride, Yuya's favorite obviously. The one they were on not only swung back and forth but also spins while swinging. Tsukikage and Gongenzaka seemed to be in an unofficial competition to see who could keep their calm the longest while Sawatari lost it along with his eye coordination. When the ride was over, Rin felt ecstatic.

In fact, she was so jovial about the speed and thrills of the rides, she drags the boys all around the amusement park to ride the wildest, fastest, and most exciting rides in the park. The log flume, topple tower, other roller coasters, turbo drop, and many others were tried. The end result was that Gongenzaka and Tsukikage lost their composure, Yuya lost his coordination, Sora lost all his snacks from throwing them up, and Sawatari lost all three. Meanwhile, Rin still felt energized.

Sitting on a bench to catch his breath, Yuya asks himself, "How can she possibly handle all of this?"

 _"Rin's a riding duelist. The feel of the wind and speed as you go faster and more daring during a ride is what the two of us live for. By the way, when it's my day can I come here?"_ Yugo explains before eagerly asking his own question.

"Hey guys. I just noticed they have lots of food here for sell. Can one of you buy me something to eat?" Rin proclaims after just noticing the food stands.

"F-food." Sora says weakly before then throwing whatever's left of his candy in the nearest trash bin.

"I'll buy you something Rin, but on one condition." Yuya says.

Yuya's condition was that he would buy whatever Rin wanted to eat if they ride something tame. So Yuya picked the Ferris wheel. The guys got on one car and Rin and Yuya got on another. They had the car to themselves and were just enjoying the leisurely motion of the ride together. After a bit they strike up a conversation.

"This had been so much fun Yuya." Rin laughed with a smile.

"I'm glad you got to enjoy yourself. By the way, when do you want to have our duel?" Yuya mentions.

"Soon but before that there's something I kind of want to do."

"Oh what is it?"

"Well, how do I put it? After we eat can you and I leave to be by ourselves."

Hearing Rin say this causes all the counterparts to go 'What' in various tones. Some like Yuto and Serena said it curious at where things are going, and others like Yugo and Yuzu said it in a way that makes it feel like they may be seeing the start of an affair.

"Uh, sure whatever you want to do Rin. Though can I ask why?" Yuya questions.

"There's some stuff that I want to learn about you. Some personal stuff that I'll explain later." Rin says. Inside each of their minds, Yuzu and Yugo are assuming the worse.

After they ate, Yuya and Rin say goodbye and start walking the boardwalk. As they walk, Yuzu watches them carefully from Rin's point of view.

" _I highly doubt she's going to try and steal Yuya."_ Ruri points out to Yuzu.

" _I know. Rin doesn't seem like that, but still we know she has a thing for Yugo and technically she is me, sort of, and Yuya is Yugo, in some way. Now that I hear myself, I'm probably just being a little paranoid about my first boyfriend."_ Yuzu worries.

Rin spots something from the corner of her eye and stops Yuya. "Yuya I need confirmation." Rin states.

"On what?" Yuya questions. Rin points in the direction she wants him to see and says, "What do you think about them?"

What Rin points at is the beach or more specifically a spot with a number of beautiful women in bikinis. It was a good thing that the other counterparts were inside Rin and Yuya's minds because they would cause quite a public commotion. Yuto's shocked, Serena's confused, Ruri's flustered, Yuri's wide-eyed, Yugo's lustful, and Yuzu's screaming. Yuya just stares blankly at the women and trying to figure out why Rin wants him to look at them.

"Well what do you think of them?" Rin asks.

"Well they look like they're enjoying themselves." Yuya says then realizes something. "Wait. Rin, do you want to go to the beach?"

"Huh?" Rin says staring in a confused manner.

"Well I don't really mind since going to the beach after the amusement park is a good idea. Though I didn't bring my swimsuit and I don't think I have enough money after the food spent." Yuya talks before Rin interrupts. "That's not what I meant when I pointed at them. What I meant was do you find them attractive?"

"Why would you ask me that question? I'm dating Yuzu."

"I know it's just that I wanted to see how much you and your other counterparts were alike Yugo. You see Yugo is an amazing guy and he's always determined and energetic. You actually remind me of him a lot and I don't just mean by the fact that the two of you share a face. The thing is his biggest and most annoying flaw is that he's a big pervert."

This statement makes the girls unanimously agree with Rin and in Yuya's mind, Yugo's crushed to hear Rin say that while Yuri laughs.

"I kind of wanted to see if this was a trait shared with Yugo's other counterparts, after all Yuri gives off a serious creeper stalker vibe (Yugo bursts out laughing and pointing at a visibly annoyed Yuri hearing this)." Rin continues.

"Well truthfully I don't feel anything for them since I have Yuzu." Yuya says. The sentiment makes Rin and Yuzu's heart flutter. Then he follows up by saying, "Besides none of them seem like my type and swimsuits aren't my thing."

"Really then what is your type and thing?" Rin interrogates with Yuzu listening. Yuya starts thinking that he may have said something that'll give him trouble.

"Well I like girls who are fun. Someone who can be friendly and every moment doesn't feel dull. You know a girl that just makes the time spent with her feel enjoyable and a little unpredictable." Yuya confesses.

"Sounds like you have an interest in unique girls."

"Well Yuzu is a very unique girl."

" _Yuya."_ Yuzu blushes.

" _Good answer."_ Yuto compliments.

"And what about your thing?" Rin brings up.

"Eh, girls in stage performance outfits." Yuya embarrassing confesses.

"Uh, stage performance outfits?"

"Yeah, you know girls who dress up in flashy outfits to put on a show like female magicians in outfits that show off their legs or those girls with the feathered outfits."

" _So does this mean Yuya wants to see Yuzu in an outfit that shows off her legs and has feathers?"_ Serena asks in a naïve tone.

" _Ah! Rin hit him!"_ Yuzu unknowingly yells from embarrassment and Rin complies by instinctively punching Yuya followed by her apologizing in a panic.

While Yuya winces in pain, Yuri just comments, _"And you blew it."_

Later after that little fiasco, Yuya and Rin ready for their duel in an open area in the park. Ringo, the D-wheel that Rin and Yugo built together, was brought over from the Synchro dimension and it's in perfect condition. Rin plans to use it for the duel and Yuya's duel disk is set up to create an action field anywhere. He sets up the Crossover action field.

"You ready Rin." Yuya asks.

"Ready when you are." Rin says.

"Great but first. Duelist locked in battle!" Yuya chants.

Rin is momentarily confused on what to do until Yuzu tells her what to say. "Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters." Rin recites.

"They storm the field."

"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling."

"Action. Duel!" At that moment, action cards scatter, Rin rides around the field, and Yuya activates his rollerboots.

Yuya: 4000 life points.

Rin: 4000 life points.

"I'll go first." Yuya claims. "First off, I'll summon this lovely lady. Performapal Uni."

Performapal Uni. Level: 4. Light. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 1500.

Rin becomes shocked at seeing the female monster in such a revealing outfit. Yuzu is also quite flustered and Serena can't help but say, _"So does this mean Yuya wants you to wear that?"_

"However, she'll need a friend. When Performapal Uni is summoned this turn, I can special summon a level 3 or lower Performapal monster from my hand in attack position. The monster I summon is her lovely sister, Performapal Corn." Yuya says with his showman attitude as he summons another monster that looks identical to the first, a beautiful woman in a revealing outfit but it was blue instead of yellow.

Performapal Corn. Level: 3. Light. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 600. Defense: 1000.

"Now when she's summoned, I change both her and Performapal Uni to defense position to add an Odd-Eyes monster from my deck to my hand." Yuya explains switching his two monsters. The card is added a he goes to explain that the monster he added was Performapal Odd-Eyes Child Magician. He summons it using it's effect that if every monster Yuya controls is a Performapal, Odd-Eyes, and/or Magician monster, he can special summon it from his hand. A little boy with red and green eyes and wearing an elaborate white magician outfit that has green stars on it appears.

Performapal Odd-Eyes Child Magician. Level: 1. Dark. Spellcaster/Pendulum/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0.

"A tuner monster? So you're fighting me with my own summoning style, huh?" Rin asks forgetting about the scantily clad girl monsters.

"Well I want my audience to see something familiar." Yuya replies. He then grabs hold of both Uni and Corn's hands and the two toss him up into the air as he somersaults onto a high platform grabbing an Action Card just in case. He initiates the synchro summoning with his three monsters. Yuya planned on summoning Enlightenment Paladin but he saw that there was another synchro monster in his extra deck. One he thinks would be a better choice.

"Now it's time to welcome our newest performer onto the stage." Yuya announces while Child Magician's little wand glows before it goes up into the air to become a single green ring that both Uni and Corn pass through to turn into stars. "Wonderful performer with wings made of light cast a beautiful spell over those who wish to smile! Synchro summon! Appear! Level 8! Performapal Odd-Eyes Amazingrace!" A beautiful woman with long vibrant pink hair and mix match eye colors appears. She's wearing a black and white female stage magician's outfit with a matching top hat and has angel wings with a rainbow colored star pattern.

Performapal Odd-Eyes Amazingrace. Level: 8. Light. Fairy/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2600. Defense: 1800.

"Amazingrace's effect activates. Depending on what monsters were used for her synchro summon, she gains an effect and since I used Performapal monsters so she gains 200 attack and defense points for each monster used."

Performapal Odd-Eyes Amazingrace. Attack: 3200. Defense: 2400.

"I place one card face down and end my turn." Yuya declares placing a card down.

"My turn. Draw." Rin says before she then goes to tease Yuya, who's moving about on the platforms. "So Yuya when you said you have a thing for girls dressed in stage performance outfits does that mean you want Yuzu to wear something that shows off her legs. Or do you prefer the open cleavage part of the previous monsters?"

Yuya gets distracted by the thought Rin put in his head and falls off a platform before being caught by Amazingrace. "Hey don't say stuff like that during a duel Rin!" Yuya yells with a massive blush on his face.

"Well regardless I'll start my turn." Rin looks at her hand and notices at a couple of cards were ones she never seen before. "Pendulum cards?"

 _"I may be jumping to conclusions but it looks like whichever counterpart we duel will create new cards to match their summoning style."_ Ruri theorizes.

"Regardless I'm going to try these. I set the pendulum scales with Scale 2 Wind Witch – Chill Bell and Scale 7 Wind Witch – Sleet Bell. Pendulum scale setting." Rising from a pillar on Rin's left is a young lady with short cyan hair dressed in blue and white witch attire riding a matching broom with a 2 underneath her. On Rin's right is a group of powder blue wind chimes with light green wings and a 7 underneath it.

Rin's Scales: 2-7

Rin continues with her new cards. "First I use Chill Bell's pendulum effect. Once per turn, I can add 1 level 4 or lower Wind monster from my deck to my hand but I can't special summon this turn except Wind monsters. I add Wind Witch – Ice Bell."

" _If she has Ice Bell then things are about to get very painful."_ Yugo mentions.

"Now I pendulum summon level 3 to 6 monsters. Appear Wind Witch – Ice Bell and Wind Witch – Frigid Bell." Rin summons Ice Bell and a dark blue church bell with wings and the yoke shaped like the face of a pretty girl with wings on her.

Wind Witch – Ice Bell. Level: 3. Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000.

Wind Witch – Frigid Bell. Level: 5. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 500. Defense: 2100.

Rin then initiates the effects of the monsters just summoned. "First, Ice Bell's effect activates. When it's summoned, you take 500 damage." A cold wave casted by the cute purple and blue witch hits Yuya.

Yuya: 3500 life points.

Rin continues, "Then Frigid Bell's effect activates. Once per turn, I can raise or lower it's level up to the number monsters I control but I can only use it to summon a Wind synchro monster. I choose to lower its level by 1."

Wind Witch – Frigid Bell. Level: 4.

"Now I synchro summon. Midwinter wind make ice and snow my power and blow through! Synchro summon! Appear! Level 7! Wind Witch – Winter Bell!"

Wind Witch – Winter Bell. Level: 7. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.

"Since I synchro summoned a Wind synchro monster, Sleet Bell's pendulum effect activates to deal damage. It normally does 500 damage but since I summon a Wind Witch synchro monster, then it's changed to 800." The chimes ring to cause a blast of cold air to toss Yuya on his back.

Yuya: 2700 life points.

"Now Wind Witch – Winter Bell's effect–" Rin continues but Yuya interrupts. "Won't activate. Like I said, what monsters were used as materials for Amazingrace's synchro summoning determines her effect. Because a Magician monster was used to summon her, Amazingrace can once per turn, negate the effect of a monster when it's special summoned. Amazingrace! Vanishing Act!"

Soon Yuya's stage magician angel shoots rainbow colored beams from the stars on her wings making Winter Bell more colorful, but it loses its effect. This saved Yuya as now not only can Rin not use Winter Bell's effect to pick Frigid Bell and deal 1000 damage but Frigid Bell's other effect was that if it was used to summon a Wind Witch synchro monster, it would gain an effect that would let Rin deal half of Winter Witch's attack points as damage by skipping her battle phase leaving Yuya with 500 life points.

"Looks like I can't do much. I play a face down card and end my turn." Rin sighs.

"My turn. Draw." Yuya begins. "First since Performapal Odd-Eyes Child Magician is in my extra deck and all monsters I control are either Performapal, Odd-Eyes, or Magician monsters, I can add it to my hand though I can't use his special summoning ability. Then I play the Action Card Candy Coat. This turn, Amazingrace is unaffected by your spells and traps and can't be destroyed by battle. Now battle! Performapal Odd-Eyes Amazingrace! Amazing Stars!"

Yuya's monster launches a cascade of beautiful stars at Winter Bell, but Rin plays her face down card, De-Synchro. Winter Witch returns to the extra deck and is replaced with Frigid Bell and Ice Bell in defense mode. Since Ice Bell is summoned, Yuya takes 500 points of damage.

Yuya: 2200 life points.

"Well then I choose to attack Frigid Bell." Yuya picks from the new summoned monsters. "Now for Amazingrace's third effect. Since I used an Odd-Eyes monster to summon her, I can add a pendulum monster from my deck to my hand with attack points equal to less than the destroyed monster's attack or defense. I choose to add Dragonpulse Magician. I end my turn."

Rin draws and sees the card she needs. "Ok, I use Wind Witch – Chill Bell's effect to add a level 4 or lower Wind monster from my deck to my hand so I pick a second Ice Bell. Then I pendulum summon my second Ice Bell." The copy of the other witch appears and Yuya experiences even more chilly discomfort.

Yuya: 1700 life points.

"Next I normal summon the level 2 tuner monster, Wind Witch – Snowflake Bell." The monster Rin summoned is a teal hand bell with the face of a young girl on it and tiny wings on the handle.

Wind Witch – Snowflake Bell. Level: 2. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 500. Defense: 500.

Rin rides faster and faster on her D-Wheel with her monsters flying right next to her. Then she commences with the synchro summoning. "Winds freezing the whole land! Let your beautiful sound be the last thing they hear! Synchro summon! Appear! Level 8! Ring your crystal bell! Wind Witch – Arctic Bell!"

A purple angelic figure that looks like it's made of crystal appears with it's lower half being a purple church bell with white snowflakes embroidering it. The bell part of the design makes it look like the creature is wearing a beautiful ball gown at a glance.

Wind Witch – Arctic Bell. Level: 8. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2200.

Yuya tries to respond by activating Amazingrace's ability to negate Arctic Bell's effect but since Arctic Bell was summoned with a Wind tuner, its effect can't be negated. Also, Sleet Bell's effect kicks in to deal 800 points of damage, but Yuya uses his acrobatics to grab and activate the Action Card, Flame Guard. This creates a shield of fire that stops the freezing air.

"You've done very well Yuya. In fact, you're doing just as well as Yugo, but he loses a lot to me and I'm afraid it'll be the same for you." Rin stops to banter before continuing.

"I activate Wind Witch – Arctic Bell's ability. Once per turn, I can cut one monster on the field's attack by half and the controller of that monster will take that much damage. Go! Frozen Ringing!" Arctic Bell swings it's bell body back in forth to create a massive blizzard that blows over Yuya and Amazingrace covering them with frost. Rin giggles at the image of Amazingrace holding her bare legs as if she's trying to keep them warm.

Yuya: 100 life points.

Performapal Odd-Eyes Amazingrace. Attack: 1600.

"Normally Arctic Bell can't attack the turn I use this effect, however, I have a way around this. By banishing, Wind Witch – Snowflake Bell, I can make one monster I control able to attack regardless of effects and its attacks can't be negated. So go Arctic Bell and destroy Amazingrace." Rin's monster unleashes another blizzard. One so strong it destroys Amazingrace but instead of disintegrating like other monsters destroyed in battle, she instead turns into a puff of smoke. When the cloud clears, Uni and Corn appear holding a banner that says 'Gotcha'. Rin is completely baffled by this until Yuya explains.

"You know Rin. The best performances are the ones that completely surprise you. I activated Performapal Uni's effect. By banishing her and another Performapal monster, I made it so the next time I take battle damage I don't."

"Well at least I got rid of your monster." Rin points out, but Yuya objects. "Not quite. Trap card open! Performapal Revival! When a monster is destroyed I can summon a Performapal monster from my hand or graveyard so make your stunning return Performapal Odd-Eyes Amazingrace!" In a flash of light, Amazingrace appeared again though this time without any of her effects. With no other option, Rin ends her turn.

Yuya draws creating a rainbow arc and just smiles. "Ladies and gentlemen! Things definitely look bad for me, but until the final curtain call comes, the show must go on! Now I set the pendulum scale with Scale 1 Dragonpulse Magician and Scale 5 Performapal Odd-Eyes Child Magician. Pendulum scale setting." The two magicians' appear in pillars of light with their respective numbers showing up beneath them.

Yuya's Scales: 1-5.

"Swing pendulum of souls! Draw an arc of light across the ether. Pendulum summon! Appear my monsters! Performapal Turn Toad! Performapal Secondonkey!"

Performapal Turn Toad. Level: 2. Water. Aqua/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 800.

Performapal Secondonkey. Level: 4. Earth. Beast/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2000.

"Since both of my pendulum zones are full, Secondonkey's effect let's me add a Performapal monster from my deck to my hand." He picks his monster from his deck and continues.

"Now I can treat Turn Toad as a tuner monster for this monster's summoning." Immediately, Turn Toad turned into rings and Amazingrace flies into them to turn into stars for Yuya's big play. "From the peaceful depths of time. Release the light throughout this wide world, revive! Synchro Summon! Level 10! Super Magical Swordsman of Nirvana! Nirvana High Paladin!"

Nirvana High Paladin. Level: 10. Dark. Spellcaster/Synchro/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 3300. Defense: 2500.

"Now since Nirvana High Paladin was synchro summoned this way, I can return a card from my graveyard to my hand so I pick the Action Card Flame Guard. Next, I use Dragonpulse Magician's effect to discard a pendulum monster to destroy a face-up monster."

Yuya discards the Performapal pendulum monster he added to his hand thanks to Secondonkey and Dragonpulse Magician's effect completely destroys Arctic Bell. With Rin wide open. Yuya has Secondonkey to attack. Rin rides around to escape but the donkey slams into her bike.

Rin: 3000 life points.

"Now Nirvana High Paladin! Elysium Eradication!" The paladin monster lunges forward swinging its sword while a brilliant rainbow ring appears around it and the shockwave from its slash causes Rin's D-Wheel to swerve until she stops.

Rin: 0 life points. Yuya Wins.

As the action field and solid vision disappears, Yuya goes up to Rin and offers his hand. "That was an amazing duel."

"Very." Rin agrees. "Probably would've been better if there was a cheering crowd."

"Oh definitely."

Rin takes out the Chill Bell and Sleet Bell cards to show them to Yuya. "I'm guessing that at least one of those synchro monsters you used was never in your deck before just like how I never had these cards until now."

"Yeah. I wanted to summon a different synchro monster on my first turn, however, I noticed Amazingrace. I've never seen it before. What do you think it means?" Yuya questions.

"I don't know, but we may see something like this when our counterparts duel each other these next couple of weeks." Rin suggests. "Hey, I'll give you ride home."

"Thank you." Yuya gets on the Ringo behind Rin putting on a spare helmet she lends him. Before they go, Rin turns to him to ask, "Hey, Yuya. To show there's no hard feelings between us, considering what happened earlier, let me tell me what my type of guy and thing are."

"What! No, no you don't have to. Seriously let's just drop this whole thing and go home thinking about the fun duel we just had and nothing else." Yuya flusters.

"No really let me. It's only fair. But before that, can you make sure Yugo isn't listening in on us." Rin asks.

"Uh." Yuya responds while he sees that inside his head, Yuri is covering up Yugo's ears as he struggles.

" _Stop it! Come on Yuri! I need to hear what Rin likes in a man!"_ Yugo shouts.

" _Are you crazy? We're getting to the real fun part of the day."_ Yuri smirks.

" _I pray that when Yuya's next day in control comes, you two will get along better."_ Yuto sighs from irritation.

"Don't worry he's not listening. I promise." Yuya assures her.

"Well, first I love determined guys." Rin confesses. "You know the kind who never give up and are defiant to the end. The one's who always strive forward with a goal in their mind that they refuse to give up on."

"You know that kind of describes Yugo given that he traveled across every dimension looking for you."

"Yeah. Unlike Yuzu, I haven't worked up the nerve to tell him how I really feel."

"Don't worry Rin. You'll tell him when you're ready. So what's your thing?"

Rin just blushes hard to the point that her red face and green hair makes her look like Yuya's hair until she blurts it out.

"Guys in leather."

"Leather?"

"Never mind. Our day's over. Time to go home." Rin spouts frantically in an embarrassed manner before speeding off on the D-wheel with Yuya screaming and holding on for dear life from how fast she's going.


	3. Yuto & Ruri

"Ok I'm leaving."

"Bye. Have fun on your date." Yoko teases.

When he leaves the house, he's caught off guard by the sight of the girl he was going to see standing right outside.

"Yuto!"

"Ruri!"

Ruri hugs her boyfriend and Yuto returns it. When they made the list, both felt ecstatic that their day together was only the second day. Now after being separated for so long, they plan to make the most of their day together.

"Come on let's not waste any time and go." Ruri eagerly says breaking away from the hug to go.

"One minute Ruri." Yuto stops her. "Before we go. There's something important I got to do first."

"Ok but make it quick." In a moment that caught Ruri off guard this time, Yuto grabs her head and kisses her on the lips.

"I would've made our reunion kiss more special but I just couldn't wait." Yuto charms causing Ruri to just give him a loving gaze.

" _Wow. Yuto is a really impressive gentleman."_ Yuya points out after witnessing his courting.

" _You think he can give us some pointers?"_ Yugo asks.

It was decided that for their day together, Yuto and Ruri would go back to the Xyz dimension to see everyone. They both know it won't be some romantic date or a fun hangout with all their old friends since Heartland is still being restored. Though Ruri suggested helping them out can be something they do together, which Yuto happily agrees.

They pass through the gateway that leads to the Xyz dimension and are greeted by the familiar faces of Shun, Allen, and Sayaka.

"Yuto! Ruri!" Allen and Sayaka say as they run to happily hug the two.

"Allen. Sayaka. It's so great to see you two again." Ruri smiles at them before then noticing her big brother. "Shun!"

Ruri runs to her older brother with tears in her eyes and hugs him. "Shun, I'm glad to see you again."

"Me too Ruri. Everything's fine now." Shun says hugging his sister. He then sees Yuto smiling at their reunion. "Yuto, I'm glad you've return."

"The feeling's mutual. Unfortunately, we won't be able to come here often together since we're working on splitting everyone apart. That is assuming this method even works." Yuto says pessimistically but then immediately changes his tune. "No matter. We're here now so let's rebuild Heartland.

"Yeah!" Everybody cheered.

Restoring Heartland was tough work but the former Resistance members could handle it. They dealt with worse from the war and rebuilding their home now that the fighting was over was nothing to them. Yuto and Shun used real solid vision to move rubble away with their monsters. This was something that drew a lot of attention to the young children. Ruri was helping Sayaka and Allen pass out clean water, food, clothing, and other supplies to the people who needed them. After long hours of work, Yuto stops for a moment to admire Ruri, who's using first aid on someone who got hurt during the clean up.

" _She's really something, Yuto."_ Yuya says.

"More than that. She's amazing." Yuto responds out loud, which Shun overhears. "Who is amazing?"

"Uh, no one. I was just taking a moment to talk to Yuya. That's all." Yuto frets. The two are best friends, but Shun is still the overprotective big brother to Ruri. And even Yuto isn't safe from him if he did anything too far with Ruri. Though at the moment, Shun just smirks at Yuto's nervousness.

"You don't have to act that way around me Yuto. I trust you with Ruri and I have no objections that you two are together. You know that."

"I do. I also know that you'll break the bones of anyone who so much as makes her cry." 

"True but there's a reason I don't have a problem with you dating her."

"Really. Do you mind telling me why?"

"You're merciful. No matter what anyone does, you always offer someone the chance to realize their mistakes even if you still have to confront them. No matter what we had to do against Academy, you always kept a cool head and made the right decision. Ruri is the same. She doesn't want people to suffer no matter who they are even if they're the enemy. Really, you two were made for each other."

"Well considering the truth behind the two of us that may be more accurate then you think."

Just then, Allen came with some young kids following him. "Hey Yuto. The kids want to see you have a duel."

"A duel?" Yuto asks.

"Oh yeah. In order to keep everyone's spirits up, we tend to have duels at least once a day. Kaito and Dennis are off fixing up other parts of Heartland so they won't be around today plus we kind of told all the children how awesome a duelist you are so they want to see your skills."

The kids plea for Yuto to duel and he accepts. Shun offers to be his opponent just like old times, but Yuto declines since he has someone in mind.

"Hey Ruri! Do you want to make some children happy?" Yuto yells.

"Sure!" Ruri agrees.

Later, Yuto and Ruri stand in an open part of town that's clear of debris. Everyone watches to see just how strong the two are. The two activate their duel disks and the duel begins.

Yuto: 4000 life points.

Ruri: 4000 life points.

"Well now ladies first." Yuto offers.

"Awe, you're such a gentleman, Yuto." Ruri blushes.

" _Are you two just going to flirt through out this duel?"_ Yugo asks.

" _If so tell me when it's over."_ Yuri scoffs.

" _Hey I know you two are an item, but please try not to hold back. It makes the duel less fun."_ Yuya advises.

"Don't worry. Whenever we duel neither Ruri or I hold back. Not even against each other." Yuto reassures his counterparts.

"First I play Lyrilusc – Bird Call so I can summon a level 1 winged-beast monster from my deck if I control no monsters. So I'll summon Lyrilusc–Cobalt Sparrow." Ruri summons her monster to the field so she can add Lyrilusc–Sapphire Swallow to her hand from her deck.

Lyrilusc – Cobalt Sparrow. Level: 1 Wind Winged-Beast/Effect Attack: 0 Defense: 100

"Now to fill my field with pretty birds." Ruri declares. "I summon Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow through her effect along with Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler." Sapphire Swallow appears along with another little in a yellow and grey bird suit.

Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow. Level: 1 Wind Winged-Beast/Effect Attack: 100 Defense: 0

Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler. Level: 1 Wind Winged-Beast/Effect Attack: 0 Defense: 100

"Now when Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler is summoned I send Lyrilusc – Larimar Thrush to my graveyard from my deck and I add Lyrilusc – Sodalite Satinbird to my hand." Ruri continues.

As the kids watch, some were question why she was dueling this way by saying stuff like "Why's she doing all this for weak monsters?" and "When will we see an xyz monster?"

"Don't worry Yuto and Ruri may take their time at first, but it's all part of their plan." Shun tells the young spectators.

"Now for the real fun Yuto." Ruri tells her opponent. "I overlay all three of my monsters and I use the effect of the two Lyrilusc – Sodalite Satinbirds in my hand. When I xyz summon a wind winged-beast xyz monster, I can attach them to it from my hand. Now, I overlay the level 1 Kyanite Warbler, Sapphire Swallow, and Cobalt Sparrow! With these monsters I build the Overlay Network! Birds of a feather appear to sing your song! Xyz summon! Rank 1! Lyrilusc – Recite Starling!"

Lyrilusc – Recite Starling. Rank: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0. Overlay Units: 5.

All the children are awestricken by the appearance of the beautiful woman with blue bird features and 5 green orbs orbiting her. Ruri proceeds with her turn. "You know how my monsters work but I'll explain things further for the audience. When Cobalt Sparrow is used for a xyz summon, my opponent's card effects can't target Recite Starling and since I used Sapphire Swallow for the summoning, I can attach the Lyrilusc – Larimar Thrush to it as an overlay unit. Oh and I almost forgot. When it's xyz summoned, a monster on the field gains 300 attack and defense for each overlay unit attached to her so I pick her for the power boost."

Lyrilusc – Recite Starling. Attack: 1800. Defense: 1800. Overlay Units: 6.

"I remove an overlay unit for Recite Starling to add Lyrilusc – Diamond Logrunner from my deck to my hand and set one card face down to end my turn." Ruri finishes up.

"Well a good start Ruri. Let's see if I can top it. My turn. Draw!" Yuto says. "First I summon The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm."

The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm. Level: 4. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1500. Defense: 500.

"Now that I control a Phantom Knights monster I play The Phantom Knights Soul Void. I discard my entire hand and draw the same number of cards plus 1. Since a Phantom Knights card was just sent to graveyard and I then discarded my hand that had other Phantom Knights cards, Cloven Helm gains 500 attack twice." After Yuto told Ruri that, a dark mist gathers around Cloven Helm to make it stronger.

The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm. Attack: 2500.

"Now I banish The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak and The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor to add The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots to my hand and to discard a Phantom Knights card to draw another card."

The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm. Attack: 3000.

"Alright now Yuto has a monster much stronger than Ruri!" Alan cheers.

"Yeah but he won't attack with it. At least not now." Shun comments.

"What do you mean?"

"Recite Starling has an ability where all battle damage Ruri would take involving it are sent to the opponent."

"What!"

"So Yuto will you attack or is there still something else you have to do?" Ruri inquires.

"As a matter of fact, there are a couple of more things I need to do." Yuto informs. "First I special summon from my hand with its effect, The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots."

The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots. Level: 3. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 200. Defense: 1200.

"Next I banish Phantom Knight's Fog Blade from my graveyard to special summon a second Silent Boots. Now I overlay my two level 3 Silent Boots! Souls of knights who fell on the battlefield. Revive here and now, and become the light that breaks the darkness! Xyz summon! Rank 3! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!"

The Phantom Knights of Break Sword. Rank: 3. Dark. Warrior/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 1000.

"Now I play The Phantom Knight's Shifting Mists! With this card all face-up cards on the field will have their effects negated until the end phase." When Yuto played the magic card, purple mist swirls and encloses all three monsters taking away their effects.

"Now battle. Cloven Helm attack Recite Starling." Yuto's attack goes through destroying Ruri's monster.

Ruri: 2800 life points.

Before Yuto can attack with Break Sword, Ruri makes a comeback. "When I control no monsters on my field, I can banish Lyrilusc – Bird Call so I can special summon as many Lyrilusc monsters from my graveyard or hand to the field. So return home my monsters!"

In that moment, Ruri's entire field is covered with a different Lyrilusc monster which not only included Sapphire Swallow, Cobalt Sparrow, and Kyanite Bowerbird, but also an a girl in an orange and black bird outfit (Sodalite Satinbird) and one wearing a blue and orange bird outfit (Larimar Thrush).

Lyrilusc – Sodalite Satinbird. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0.

Lyrilusc – Larimar Thrush. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 0.

"Now that they're summoned, their effects activate. Kyanite Bowerbird sends Sapphire Swallow from the deck to the grave so I can add another Sodalite Satinbird to my hand. Then using her effect, I switch the Sodalite Satinbird on the field so I can special summon Diamond Logrunner and increase all my monsters level by 1." With this Ruri summons a blue and brown bird girl and all her little level 1 birds turn into level 2 monsters.

Lyrilusc – Diamond Logrunner. Level: 1 (now 2). Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

"Whoa. Ruri managed to fill her entire field up." Sayaka cheers until she notices something. "But all her monsters are weak and she can't use them for a xyz summoning right now. Unless."

"Ruri is that face down part of your strategy." Yuto guesses with some playfulness in his voice.

"Someone is quite observant." Ruri teases.

"Of course. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't pay attention to my girlfriend?"

"Oh stop it my knight. You're making me blush."

"You know blushing only makes you cuter my little songbird."

" _ **WILL YOU TWO STOP FLIRTING AND JUST DUEL!"**_ All six counterparts yelled at the couple. They yelled so loud, Yuto and Ruri thought they were having a migraine for a moment.

"Ok. Ok. Jeez. Now, trap open. Wonder Xyz. Now I can xyz summon and I'll overlay all five of my level 2 Lyrilusc monsters plus I add the two Sodalite Satinbirds in my hand to the summoning. Overlay! Flocks of wonderful songbirds take flight and gather to form one! Xyz summon! Rank 2! Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch!" Appearing with 7 green orbits is a beautiful woman dressed up in an elaborate bird costume with feathers of many different colors.

Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch. Rank: 2. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 300. Defense: 300. Overlay Units: 7.

"Sapphire Swallow's effect attaches Recite Starling to Enumerate Finch and she can't be targeted by my opponent's card effects thanks to Cobalt Sparrow. Plus, Larimar Thrush gives her an effect that let's me negate her destruction once per turn. Oh and before I forget, my monster gains 300 attack and defense for each overlay unit on it." Ruri finishes with her new more powerful monster.

Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch. Attack: 2700. Defense: 2700. Overlay Units: 8.

"Wow she was able to summon something like that so skillfully." Sayaka admires.

"Well I'm positive Yuto will do something to turn things around." Allen assures her.

"I end my turn and the effect of The Phantom Knight's Shifting Mist ends." Yuto says causing Allen to shout, "What!"

"My turn. Draw. I attack Cloven Helm with Enumerate Finch. Whenever a monster battles her, it'll lose attack and defense equal to her current attack." Ruri says.

The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm. Attack: 300. Defense: 0.

Ruri's monster flies at sonic speed at Yuto's monster instantly destroying it in a dive bomb. Yuto takes the damage from a gust wind that was created from the attack.

Yuto: 1600 life points.

Ruri ends her turn by setting a card face down, but before Yuto's turn can begin, he banishes Cloven Helm to add Rank-Up Magic: The Phantom Knights Burial of the Phantom Knights from his graveyard. Yuto's turn begins with his draw.

"First I'll use Break Sword's effect to remove one overlay unit and destroy a card I control and one you control. So I pick The Phantom Knights of Break Sword and your face down card." At Yuto's command both his monster and Ruri's face down card were both destroyed in an explosion. Break Sword's effect summons his two Silent Boots with their levels both increased by 1.

The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots. Level: 4.

"And now I summon my ace by overlaying my two level 4 Silent Boots. Formed from pitch-black darkness to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Now descend! Xyz summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Rank: 4. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 2.

"But I'm not done. I play Rank-Up Magic The Phantom Knights Burial of the Phantom Knights to special summon Break Sword from my graveyard and use it and this card as materials to xyz summon a xyz monster that's 2 ranks higher than it. Specter from the night covered battlefield walk the earth covered in your pain! Rank-Up Xyz change! Rank 5! The Phantom Knights of Scarred Chains!" Appearing alongside Yuto's signature dragon is a grey armored knight wearing a faded blue cloak and covered in black chains.

The Phantom Knights of Scarred Chains. Rank: 5. Dark. Warrior/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2300. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 2.

"I remove an overlay unit from Scarred Chains. Now until the end of the turn, you can't activate cards on your field and all your face up cards have their effects negated." After explaining this, the dark xyz monster binds Enumerate Finch with its obsidian chains.

"Now I am able to remove all of Dark Rebellion's overlay units to cut your monster's attack in half and it permanently gains what's lost. Dark Rebellion. Lightning Disobey!" Dark Rebellion releases purple lighting from its wings that drain Ruri's bound bird lady.

Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch. Attack: 1350.

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Attack: 3850. Overlay Units: 0.

"I now banish one of my Silent Boots from my graveyard so I can add a Phantom Knights spell or trap card from my deck to my hand. Now Dark Rebellion attack!" Yuto orders his dragon. Dark Rebellion impales Enumerate Finch with its mandibles resulting in the monster's destruction.

Ruri: 300 life points.

"Dark Rebellion. That card always helps you no matter what trouble you face." Ruri says. "So let's see how it handles this. Scarred Chains' effect doesn't prevent me from using any cards from my hand or graveyard so I discard Lyrilusc – Beryl Broadbill to activate a Rank-Up Magic card from my graveyard. I pick the one you destroyed earlier, Rank-Up Magic: Lyrilusc Duet Song. Now I special summon a Lyrilusc xyz monster that was just sent to the graveyard this turn and I can xyz summon a monster with a rank that's double of that monster. I bring Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch back to the field and rank up!

Ruri's summoned monster flies into a red galaxy swirl to summon her newest xyz monster. "Flying across the sky use your flock to overwhelm your foes! Rank-Up Xyz change! Rank 4! Spread your wonderful wings! Lyrilusc – Gathering Antbird!" Appearing on the field is an older but still very beautiful woman wearing an elaborate black and white bird costume.

Lyrilusc – Gathering Antbird. Rank: 4. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000.

"Lyrilusc Duet Song has another effect. If I xyz summon a Lyrilusc monster with this card, I can attach all Lyrilusc monsters in my graveyard to Gathering Antbird as overlay units plus Gathering Antbird gains 500 attack and defense for each one with it's effect."

"What." Yuto yelps as he see all of Ruri's monsters appear from her graveyard and to turn into green balls of light orbiting her monster.

Lyrilusc – Gathering Antbird. Attack: 6000. Defense: 6000. Overlay Units: 10.

"Now here's where you really yell what. If Lyrilusc – Gathering Antbird was xyz summoned using a wind winged-beast xyz monster then once per duel, I can destroy all other monsters who have less attack than her and for each one destroyed, you take 1000 points of damage. Go, Overwhelming Flock!" With Ruri's command, Gathering Antbird releases millions of small birds that swarm the field. The whole field looks like it's being engulfed in a powerful tornado made of small birds. When everything clears, Yuto's monsters are all gone but he is still standing but barely.

Yuto: 100 life points.

"Wait how?" Ruri questions.

"I banished from my graveyard the trap card I discarded when I banished Fragile Armor. Phantom Knight's Shady Potion. By doing this, I was able to gain 100 life points for each of my banished cards. Now Ruri, if you don't mind, I'll be copying a play you did earlier. Rank-Up Magic – The Phantom Knights Rebellious Spirit Revived. This will cut my life points in half but I can special summon a dark xyz monster that was just destroyed this turn and summon another dark xyz monster with a rank that's also double its own. Now Dark Rebellion rank up!"

Yugo starts chanting as Dark Rebellion enters the red galaxy.

"Mortals who trample over life accept your fate in the form of darkness! Rank-Up Xyz change! Rank 8! Descend upon the sinners! Dark Retribution Xyz Dragon!" Appearing before everyone was a larger version of Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon but it was wearing armor with blades jutting out that looks like they were made of stained glass found in a church and the metacarpals resemble swords.

Yuto: 50 life points.

Dark Retribution Xyz Dragon. Rank: 8. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 3500. Defense: 3000. Overlay Units: 2.

"I remove an overlay unit to activate his effect. Sinner's World!" Upon activation, ominous purple lighting covers the whole field. "Until my next standby phase, whenever Dark Retribution Xyz Dragon battles, the monster he fights will lose all of its attack points and they'll be transferred to him. Go Dark Retribution Xyz Dragon! Dark Judgment Pierce!" The pseudo-evil looking dragon swoops down to annihilate Ruri and her monster all while the lightning around hits Gathering Antbird and goes to Dark Retribution so it can become stronger.

Lyrilusc – Gathering Antbird. Attack: 0.

Dark Retribution Xyz Dragon. Attack: 9500. Overlay Units: 1.

In what may be an act of desperation, Ruri activates Gathering Antbird's effect. By removing an overlay unit, she can halve the attack of all of Yuto's monsters. Unfortunately, it can only be done once per turn, so she'll still lose. Dark Retribution also has an effect where if it was summoned using a Xyz Dragon monster, it gains the ability to remove an overlay unit to negate an effect that affects Dark Retribution Xyz Dragon and destroy it. However, given the situation, that would be too cruel for Yuto. So he let's Ruri activate her monster's effect to reduce Dark Retribution's attack to 4250. Ruri's monster is still destroyed along with the rest of her life points.

Ruri: 0 life points. Yuto wins.

"Ruri! Are you all right?" Yuto goes to comfort his girlfriend lying on the ground from the impact.

"You lied." Ruri knowingly smiles at him.

"Huh."

"I overheard you talking to your dimensional counterparts before the duel started. You said when we duel, neither of us holds back. You didn't use Dark Retribution's effect that would prevent the attack loss."

"Well of course I didn't. That would've been overkill and there's no way I would duel like that against you." Yuto's statement gives Ruri a big smile. They become distracted when they hear applause and cheers from the Heartland residents who found their duel amazing.

Taking in all the admiration, Yuto and Ruri hold hands and take a bow together. Then Ruri kisses Yuto on the cheek causing him to fluster.


	4. Yugo & Serena

After Yuto and Ruri's duel yesterday, the former members of the Resistance told them that they could go back to the Pendulum Dimension to spend the rest of their day together. The two objected but were persuaded by Shun when he brings up that it might be awhile before they can see each other again so they should make the most of it. Before they leave, Allen gives Ruri a pair of rollerboots. After they leave, Yuto found out that he could bring Yuya's rollerboots out if they concentrate together. With this any of the dimensional counterparts can wear the rollerboots for their duel.

For the rest of the day, the xyz couple did activities any boyfriend and girlfriend would do together such as eating at a restaurant, riding on their rollerboots through the park, and watching the sunset together. Their day together was cute though for their counterparts who had to watch it, it was a little frustrating and boring since they had to spend half the day watching a couple date.

The next day started, and this time it's Yugo's turn to be in the driver's seat. Or rather the motorcycle seat as he's riding Ringo to the Hiragi household to pick up the other counterpart, Serena.

"Hey Serena." Yugo greets.

"Hello Yugo." Serena returns the greeting.

"It's Yugo! Not Yuugou!" Yugo shouts.

"That's what I just said idiot!" Serena uppercuts him from annoyance.

"Well do you have any idea what you want to do together?" Yugo asks handing her a helmet.

"No I really don't and the last two days didn't really give me any suggestions since they either involved sexual desires or two people being really boring."

 _"Boring! My date with Yuto wasn't boring."_ Ruri takes offense.

"Well there's one thing I want to do." Yugo says as Serena gets on behind him. "And that's ride."

In a burst of speed, Yugo and Serena ride off in whatever direction Yugo wants to go.

"So is this really how you want to spend our day together!" Serena inquires while yelling due to all the noise from the motorcycle and wind.

"No but we could look around. Heck, on a D-Wheel, we should be able to find something to do around here in no time."

They ride across every road in Maiami City looking for something to do. Actually Serena was looking. Yugo was so enthralled with being on a D-Wheel again; he didn't care if he ever stopped. However, he will soon as Serena spots something of interest.

"A roller skating rink?" Yugo asks after stopping in front of it.

"We both now have access to those rollerboots Yuya wears. I figure we could practice roller skating to get the hang of them." Serena explains her reasoning for coming here.

"I'm not using those things. I duel on my D-Wheel."

"You can duel on it with anyone else, but I'm not letting your reckless driving run me over when we do duel."

"Wait, what makes you think I'm reckless. You've only seen me ride once."

"I talked to Yuzu and Rin. They think you're driving is reckless." That comment hurt Yugo's feelings.

The two duelists go inside and pick up their roller skates. They both have trouble since they've never worn them before so they don't really know how to tie the laces. When they do figure it out, they go out onto the rink. Though it was even more difficult since they can't keep their balance because of the wheels.

Serena accidently bumps into Yugo who accidently grabs her while they roll across rink. Yugo's panicked state causes him to skate far across the rink because he keeps moving his legs. Halfway through the rink, Serena instinctively throws him far due to the skates.

As Yugo screams, he soon stops yelling as he feels the speed. He's not going anywhere as fast as on his D-Wheel, but it does feel like similar to how he has to try to keep his balance while riding it. Soon he was moving around with ease.

Serena's toss caused her to pull a 180, but like with Yugo, her own instincts and skills took over to let her skate. Using her combat training she learned at Academy and another skill she never told anyone, Serena starts skating around the rink gracefully. Pretty soon the two decide to get competitive by skating around the rink like they were in a race. Eventually this leads to the two showing off with Yugo skating backwards and doing a skid and spin so he was skating forward again. Serena twirls and spins around on the wheels even jumping up to do a 360 and landing perfectly on her feet like an ice dancer.

Unfortunately, their competitive spirits distracted them to the point they both skate right into the wall around the rink.

"You know. I think we're good enough." Serena says in pain.

"I think you're right. And the name's Yugo not Yuno." Yugo says.

"I think you need to get your hearing checked." Serena remarks.

After that fiasco, they got something to drink at the concession bar and sat at a table. Yugo keeps looking at her lost in thought.

"What is it?" Serena asks.

"It really is amazing how much you look like Rin. Well besides the hair and the fact that you don't smile much." Yugo states.

"She really does seem to be the only thing on your mind."

"Well kind of, I mean it's not like I think of her all the time that much or anything."

Seeing Yugo blushing over his would-be girlfriend causes Serena to sigh in annoyance. "Can we please change the subject so that it doesn't involve anything like romance or sex? I don't really care about those."

"How come?"

"I was raised to be a soldier ever since I was enrolled into Academy at a young age. I never got to experience stuff like a dating life or romantic discussions."

"Wow no wonder you act so unpleasant."

"What was that?" Serena glares at Yuto. She makes a fist in order to punch him but he quickly apologizes. Serena wants them to drop the subject and not include Academy into the conversation either. Unfortunately, that didn't leave much to talk about other than Yugo's love for riding duels and D-Wheels. Then Yugo figured out something he could talk to her about.

"Hey Serena. On the roller rink, you had some good moves." Yugo compliments.

"Uh, thank you. They really weren't that great." Serena humbly accepts.

"Do you like to dance?"

At that Serena's eyes became wide and she spits out her drink all over Yugo's face. She then starts feeling embarrassed and nervous. "What! No, of course not. Where would you ever get something like that? I already told you I was trained as soldier."

"You mean they had dance lessons at Academy. Hahaha, oh now I'm imagining Yuri trying to ballroom dance and he looks so stupid."

" _I hate you."_ Yuri seethes.

"Actually when I was a child, I was raised in a foster house." Serena explains. "There wasn't much to do other than studies and practicing duels though we didn't exactly have good cards for decks. One day, a pair of performers came to entertain us. Their specialty was dancing. I really loved the way they moved because of all the skill they showed. I remember trying to imitate their moves and reading about dance moves to practice."

"Wow you must be amazing." Yugo praises.

"No. When I got older I was sent to Academy. From there dueling became the thing I was good at. I guess when we skated, it made me remember it."

"You know. When we get separated you should try getting back into it."

Serena just smiles at his suggestion and actually considers it. "Maybe I will. Ok, we had our bonding moment for the day. Now let's have our duel."

"Right I'm revved up for it." Yugo grins.

The two asked the owner of the rink if they could use it for their duel. It was easy to convince him to since he mistook Yugo for Yuya and thought it would be a duel involving a famous duelist. Yugo came close to blowing it by trying to correct him about his name until Serena covers his mouth. They go to opposite sides of the rink each ready to roll in the opposite direction of the other when the duel starts. With their rollerboots on they start skating around the rink and start the duel.

Yugo: 4000 life points.

Serena: 4000 life points.

"It's not the same as a riding duel, but since we're using wheels to duel, I'll go first." Yugo declares. He looks at his hand and is surprised to see a familiar card in his hand. Polymerization.

" _Wow. Even your own deck is making fun of your name. There's no way you can top that."_ Yuri mocks Yugo who gets angry with his fusion counterpart.

" _Just like my duel with Rin. The counterpart we duel affects our decks."_ Yuya mentions.

"Yeah it looks like it. Oh well, I don't mind trying out a new skill." Yugo says as he grabs the fusion card. "I play Polymerization to fuse Speedroid 5-6-Plane and Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice. Children's toy and game of chance come together! Gambling gods blow the winds of luck in my favor. Fusion summon! Level 6! Speedroid All-Eyed Dice!" Swirls mix 5-6-Plane and Bright-Eyed Dice, a green ten-sided dice with red eyes, together to create a 20-sided black dice with many red eyes.

Speedroid All-Eyed Dice. Level: 6. Wind. Machine-Type/Fusion/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 200.

"Now when it's fusion summoned, I can summon from my graveyard two Wind monsters with their effects negated, a tuner and non-tuner, and immediately synchro summon. I bring back Speedroid 5-6-Plane and tune it with the Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice that I'm also bringing back." The dice becomes rings that Yugo's other monster flies into. During the synchro summoning, Yugo rides on the rollerboots next to it as he recites the summoning chant. "Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro summon! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 7. Wind. Dragon-Type/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"Do you always have to rely on that monster?" Serena asks.

"Hey me and Clear Wing are unstoppable. I feel victorious around him." Yugo proclaims while rolling around with his two monsters. "I'll end my turn with a face down card. Now hit me with your best shot Serena."

"You'll regret saying that." Serena smirks. "My turn. Draw. I play the field spell Lunalight Ballroom." When Serena plays the card the entire rink transforms into an elegant ballroom decorated in purple, pink, and blue colors and covered with moon themed decorations.

"Once per turn, I can fusion summon a Lunalight monster with monsters from my hand or field and all Lunalight monsters I control gain 300 attack points. Now I use Lunalight Ballroom's effect to fuse Lunalight Crimson Fox and Lunalight Yellow Ferret together. A fox on the hunt and a ferret moving in the dark! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 7! Lunalight Cat Dancer!"

Lunalight Cat Dancer. Level: 7. Dark. Beast-Warrior-Type/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2400 (now 2700). Defense: 2000.

"Since Crimson Fox was sent to the graveyard by a card effect, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon's attack becomes 0." Serena says causing Yugo's mouth to drop.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 0.

"Also because Yellow Ferret was used for the fusion summon, I can special summon it and another Lunalight monster from my graveyard with their attacks reduced to 0." With this, a red fox woman and a yellow ferret woman wearing a crescent moon mask appear from nowhere.

Lunalight Crimson Fox. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior-Type/Effect. Attack: 1000 (now 300). Defense: 600

Lunalight Yellow Ferret. Level: 3. Dark. Beast-Warrior-Type/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 1000 (now 300). Defense: 700.

" _A tuner. Is she going to synchro summon?"_ Yugo thinks to himself. _"Doesn't matter. Serena likes going all out with attacks, but she can't use Cat Dancer's effect as long as Clear Wing is on the field."_

Serena continues her turn. "First I use Lunalight Yellow Ferret's effect to banish it and a Lunalight monster in my hand to tune them together. The monster I banish is the level 2 monster Lunalight White Rabbit." As her monsters are tuned together for the summoning, Serena's movements around the rink become more elegant.

"Dancing underneath the moon in the jungle. Turn your movements into a form of combat! Synchro summon! Level 5! Lunalight Panda Dancer!" Appearing next to Serena is her newest monster, a pink skinned woman wearing a black and white Chinese dress dance with crescent moon accessories on it.

Lunalight Panda Dancer. Level: 5. Beast-Warrior-Type/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2100 (now 2400). Defense: 1900.

"By the way Yugo, if you think Clear Wing will save you. It won't. Lunalight Panda Dancer makes it so that you can't use you monsters' effects on my turn. Now I sacrifice Crimson Fox so Lunalight Cat Dancer can attack every monster twice this turn and Crimson Fox reduces Speedroid All-Eyed Dice's attack to 0."

Speedroid All-Eyed Dice. Attack: 0.

Serena then does a twirl in her excitement as she commands Cat Dancer to first attack Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, which causes Yugo to take 100 damage from Cat Dancer's effect and another 100 from Panda Dancer since a Lunalight monster attacked.

Yugo: 3800 life points.

As the fusion monster gracefully spins to deliver a kick, Serena thinks to herself, _"Come on Yugo, you have to have some trick up your. This is the first duel I've had in a long time that was just meant to be fun and I don't want this duel end on my first turn."_

Clear Wing gets struck but isn't destroyed thanks to Cat Dancer's effect. Yugo grins at this. "I banish Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice from my graveyard. Now you'll take the same amount of battle damage I just took." As the impact from Cat Dancer's kick heads towards Yugo, the dice monster appears in front of Serena to explode releasing a shockwave just as powerful.

Yugo: 1100 life points.

Serena: 1300 life points.

The two duelists avoid falling down from the shockwaves by using their own unique skills, Yugo's balance while moving and Serena's dance skills. Then Yugo makes another play. "Next trap card open. Synchro Emergency. I send Clear Wing back to the extra deck. Then all your monsters will lose attack equal to his original attack. So Clear Wing leave the field and weakens all your monsters."

Lunalight Cat Dancer. Attack: 200.

Lunalight Panda Dancer. Attack: 0.

Despite her monsters now being incredibly weak, Serena can't help but smile from the excitement of this turn of events. She soldiers on and continues with her battle phase. "My monsters may not be strong any more but I can still do some damage. Cat Dancer attack All-Eyed Dice. Even though it's attack isn't much plus Cat Dancer and Panda Dancer's effects only do a small amount of damage for each attack. They'll still add up to a lot. Lunalight Cat Dancer attack All-Eyed Dice." Cat Dancer kicks All-Eyed Dice twice to deal 400 damage and destroy it plus the combined effect damage from both Lunalight monster's effects cause another 400 damage.

Yugo: 300 life points.

Serena ends her turn with a face down card and Yugo begins his by drawing a trap card. "Ok first I special summon Speedroid Terrortop since I control no monsters. Then I add the tuner monster Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice to hand thanks to Terrortop and normal summon it."

Speedroid Terrortop. Level: 3. Wind. Machine-Type/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 600.

Speedroid Red-Eyed Dice. Level: 1. Wind. Machine-Type/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

"Now it's time to bring back my best friend. When Red-Eyed Dice is summoned, a Speedroid monster I control becomes a level from 1 to 6. I make Terrortop level 6 and tune Red-Eyed Dice with it. Now return to the field again! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon."

With his signature monster back, Yugo goes on the offensive by attacking Lunalight Panda Dancer. Serena discards Lunalight Cyan Turtle to reduce any damage she takes to 0. Panda Dancer is destroyed and its other effect activates to let Serena add a Lunalight monster from her deck to her hand. Yugo sets the trap card he just drew and ends his turn.

"My turn. I draw and I summon the tuner monster, Lunalight Pink Mouse." Serena summons Lunalight young woman with its pink mouse and moon themed outfit.

Lunalight Pink Mouse. Level: 1. Dark. Beast-Warrior-Type/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 300 (now 600). Defense: 200.

Serena tunes her Pink Mouse with Cat Dancer. As she says the chant for her newest monster, she moves about gracefully in the rollerboots like she's dancing with herself. "Underneath the moonlight you show all your power and elegance! Synchro summon! Level 8! Appear on the battlefield! Lunalight Grizzly Dancer!" A red skinned woman with characteristics of a bear appears wearing what appears to be a crimson Bharatanatyam dress.

Lunalight Grizzly Dancer. Level: 8. Dark. Beast-Warrior-Type/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2800 (now 3100). Defense: 2400.

"Since I used a fusion monster to summon her, Grizzly Dancer is unaffected by your card effects." Serena adds.

"Well Serena this is where things get really interesting. I activate Hi-Speed Gamble." Yugo plays his face down card and a roulette wheel with black skulls and white hearts on it appears above Clear Wing.

"I activate this card by picking a machine or dragon-type synchro monster I control. Now if I'm lucky and the roulette lands on a white heart, Clear Wing can't be destroyed this turn and I'll gain life points equal to his attack points. However, if it lands on a black skull, Clear Wing will be destroyed."

"Just like our last duel. You're betting everything on an unpredictable risk." Serena reminds him.

"And just like back then that's what made the duel so much fun." Yugo responds. The roulette wheel starts spinning and spinning until it slows down. Soon it comes to a stop.

And it lands on a white heart. Now Clear Wing can't be destroyed and Yugo's life points are restored.

Yugo: 2800 life points.

"Not bad though I can still take care of your dragon. I play the continuous spell card, Lunalight Tango. Any monster that battles a Lunalight monster will have its effect negated. Also Grizzly Dancer can attack all monsters twice with the first attack not destroying them." Serena says.

"Big deal. Clear Wing can't be destroyed and I won't even lose half my life points." Yugo says in a cocky manner.

"Oh I forgot. After Grizzly Dancer attacks a monster, it'll lose 1000 attack."

"What!"

"Now Lunalight Grizzly Dancer attacks Clear Wing! Sacred Moonlight Dance!" Serena orders. Her monster moves about with its claws ready to slash Clear Wing. It slashes once to damage Yugo and weaken Clear Wing. Lunalight Tango removes Clear Wing's effect. Then it goes in for a second slash that weakens the dragon more and causes more damage to Yugo. The shockwave almost knocks Yugo back but he uses the same skating techniques he used earlier today to not fall.

Yugo: 600 life points.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 500.

"I play a card face down and end my turn." Serena says. As Yugo's turn is about to begin, he thinks of how he'll make a comeback.

" _Ok. According to All-Eyed Dice's effect, if I discard a Wind machine-type tuner monster, I can special summon it with its level becoming a number from 1 to 6. Then I can banish it and another monster on my field to synchro summon. If I draw a tuner monster then I'll be able to get Crystal Wing and win."_ Yugo thinks before beginning his turn. "My turn! Draw!"

He looks at the card and is crushed when he sees that it's Speedroid Double Yoyo. Yugo feels like he's about to lose until Yuto comes in. _"Uh Yugo. Have you read all of All-Eyed Dice's effect?"_

"Eh." Yugo rereads the card's description on his duel disk, and checks his extra deck, and sees he still has a way to win. "Alright. I discard Speedroid Double Yoyo to special summon Speedroid All-Eyed Dice from my graveyard. Since I discarded a non-tuner Wind machine-type monster, I can banish Speedroid All-Eyed Dice and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon to perform a fusion summon. Go into the vortex dragon of awesome speed! Take on your new form with all new powers! Fusion summon! Fly through the skies! Level 8! Clear Wing Power Dragon!"

Appearing before the two duelists was a dragon that looked similar to Clear Wing Synchro Dragon but the white parts were purple and its design appeared less sleek and more combat ready.

Clear Wing Power Dragon. Level: 8. Wind. Dragon-type/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500.

"Now Clear Wing Power Dragon attack Lunalight Grizzly Dancer." Yugo commands.

"Are you crazy? It's not strong enough." Serena points out.

"It will be. When Clear Wing Power Dragon battles a level 5 or higher monster, it gains attack points equal to that monster's attack."

Clear Wing Power Dragon. Attack: 6100.

"It's not over yet. I play Lunalight Dance of the Dead. With this card, I'll banish Lunalight Cat Dancer from my graveyard so Grizzly Dancer will gain her attack points." Serena plays her trap.

" _Wait. Even with the power boost, Grizzly Dancer will only have 5500 attack points. You're still going to lose the battle."_ Rin pops up.

"True but I won't lose the duel." Serena says in low enough voice so Yugo doesn't hear her plan. "This is so I survive next turn. Lunalight Dance of the Dead has another effect. If it's in my graveyard and I control no monsters, I can banish it to special summon a Lunalight monster. Next turn, I'll special summon Grizzly Dancer back and thanks to Lunalight Tango, Yugo's monster will have its effect negated. This duel is all mi–."

"I activate Clear Wing Power Dragon's effect." Yugo announces causing Serena to give a surprised 'huh'.

"With his effect, I can negate a card effect that increases another monster's attack points and destroy it. Go, Power Storm Strike!" With Yugo's fusion monster's effect, Serena's trap card is destroyed. Clear Wing Power Dragon spins with its sharp claws out to slice up Grizzly Dancer in a tornado of slashes.

Serena: 0 life points. Yugo wins.

Serena lost her balance from that attack and fell down though she isn't hurt. Yugo rolls right up to her and offers her hand to help her up. Serena smiles and accepts. After the crowd applauds for their duel, they hang out at the roller rink for a while either by practicing their roller moves or playing at the arcade, something they both discover they're quite good at since they keep doing great at all of the games. After that they leave so Yugo can ride them around to see if there's anything else they can do.

"Hey Yugo." Serena catches Yugo's attention. "Before we go there's something I want to do."

"Oh what is it?" Yugo asks.

"This." Serena surprises Yugo with a friendly hug. After she parts, Serene smiles. "This had been fun day. You're an amazing friend."

After hearing this, Yugo cries tears of joy and jumps forward to give her a massive hug while shouting "Serena!" His bear hug starts causing Serena visible discomfort until she ends it by stomping on his foot.

"You just had to ruin the mood." Serena scowls at Yugo, who's in pain.

"Sorry. Sorry. Let's just ride around." Yugo recovers as he and Serena hop onto Ringo and drive off.

Note: So far this is my favorite chapter of the fic. Possibly because Yugo and Serena are my favorite of the Yu Boys and Bracelet Girls respectively. I hope the manga gives more interactions between them.


	5. Yuri & Yuzu

Yuzu waits outside the Leo Corporation so she can use the dimensional portal for her day. She feels nervous, as the counterpart who she'll spend all day with is Yuya's fusion counterpart, Yuri. He wants to take Yuzu to the fusion dimension for their time together. The problem was that while Yuri is now good, that doesn't mean Yuzu really knows him. She's been around Yuto and Yugo. They both were friendly and helpful. With Yuri, every memory Yuzu has of him was of sadist who hunted her and her other counterparts down, and carded people without remorse. Now she'll spend the day with someone who she can only see as an enemy.

"Well hello Yuzu." Yuri arrives with his trademark smile though Yuzu notices that he's not looking at her in a way like a predator hunting. Rather the look in his eyes seems like genuine happiness. "So are you ready to go to the fusion dimension?"

"Um. Sure." Yuzu hesitates but goes along. Once they cross over, they are now in Academy where Edo, the new head of the school, and Asuka, who teaches a class on Duel Entertainment, greets them.

"Yuzu." Asuka greets.

"Asuka. I'm happy to see you again." Yuzu says.

"Welcome. I'm happy to say that Academy has changed for the better. If you two want, we can you a tour of the place to see how it's changed." Edo says.

"Thanks for the offer. However, can you give us a boat ride to the mainland? There's something I got to do there with Yuzu." Yuri says.

"Sure. Yuri. I can do that." Edo complies.

Edo granted Yuri's request and soon he and Yuzu were on a boat going to the mainland. The two were by themselves on the dock just looking around at the sky and ocean. Yuzu tries to start up a conversation with Yuri but he just stays quiet like he's lost in thought. When they get halfway between Academy and the main land, Yuri gets up and approaches Yuzu.

"Now that we're away from everyone else, I can finally do the one thing I've wanted to do to you for a long time." Yuri smirks. With the wording and his smile, Yuzu recalls when he evil and readies to defend herself with her duel disk. Inside their respective minds, the girls shout advice on what Yuzu can do to protect herself while the boys desperately try to get Yuri to stop. However, what Yuri does next makes all of their fears disappear.

"I'm sorry." Yuri apologizes on his hands and knees.

"Eh. You're sorry." Yuzu says feeling confused.

"For everything I did before Zarc's revival. I caused a lot of grief and suffering, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Now all I feel is guilt and I want to apologize to not only you Yuzu, but also Rin, Serena, and Ruri."

"Apology accepted." Yuzu smiles at him. "Though I have to know. Why did you wait to do this now?"

"I didn't want anyone else seeing me do something humiliating like that. I still have my dignity." Yuri says getting up.

"Well I'm glad you changed for the better. You know, for a second, I thought you going to try to kidnap me again."

"Even if I wanted to I can't. The voices in my head won't allow it."

That comment actually makes Yuzu crack up.

When they reach the main land, they activate the rollerboots. Yuri wants to get to a specific destination as soon as possible. Eventually they arrive in a neighborhood with many prestige houses. Yuri explains that the residents that live here are of high social class like successful businessmen or doctors. They arrive at a specific house that's painted purple. It looks empty and Yuri notices the FOR SALE sign.

"So they moved on, huh. Figures." Yuri sighs before rolling off with a somber look on his face.

"Yuri. Wait up. Why did you stop at that house? Is it important to you?" Yuzu asks.

"There's a park near here."

"Don't change subject!"

"I was going to say we could sit down on a bench there. I don't want to get distracted and run into a wall like Yugo and Serena yesterday."

"Oh. Ok."

They find the closest bench at the park and sit down. Yuzu asks again why he went to that house specifically.

"That's the house I grew up in." Yuri opens up.

"Wait you come from a rich family?" Yuzu surprised to hear this.

"They weren't super rich like you're probably thinking, but they made enough money that we never had to worry about anything. My dad worked as the head accountant for this company and my mom was a professor at a big university with a PHD in botany. The thing is that they always kept themselves busy with their work and well you've probably heard this story. I was neglected because of their work. Looking back I don't think I have a good memory being with them."

"Yuri, I'm really sorry that you're childhood was hard." Yuzu comforts him.

"You misunderstand Yuzu." Yuri corrects her. "My childhood wasn't hard. At least compared to everyone else's. I don't recall a good memory with my parents, but at the same time I don't recall any bad memories either. Really I felt nothing living there."

Yuri pauses for a moment before continuing. "Then I was old enough to go to Academy. I already had Starving Venom for as long as I could remember and with my parents' money, I was able to make a powerful deck. With my skills and deck, I won every match. And the fact that no one wanted to be around me because I was too strong made everything feel emptier. Then the professor recruited me and you know the rest."

"I think I see what you mean. You were blessed with a lot of stuff people would want but couldn't enjoy it. It got so bad that you actually turned to hurting others just to feel some happiness." Yuzu analyzes Yuri's life story.

"Yeah that's pretty much it. I was starving for anything to satisfy myself even if it was poison."

Yuzu puts a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. Now you have friends who care about you and we won't let you feel empty like that again. As long as you're with Yuya, myself, and the others you'll always be satisfied."

"That's a nice sentiment Yuzu but could you have used a different word than satisfied at the end. It kind of came across like you meant something else." Yuri says with a mocking smile.

"What are you talking–" Yuzu questions before figuring out his perverse logic. Yuzu gets so angered by this that she starts smacking Yuri repeatedly with her fan.

" _You were doing so good Yuri."_ Yuya facepalms from disappointment.

" _Man I never thought a paper fan could leave a red mark."_ Yugo notes.

" _That's it. I'm giving all of you lessons on how to talk to girls when this is over."_ Yuto says.

After that incident, Yuri demands they begin their duel now, but Yuzu has an idea of where they can have it. They go to the town square where many civilians gather ready to see the duel.

"You sure this a good idea. I mean the park was perfectly fine." Yuri says looking at the spectators gathering.

"You've never dueled in front of an audience before have you?" Yuzu asks.

"No and I don't really see the point of it."

"Well you will. Trust me this duel will be the satisfaction you've been hungry for." Yuzu activates Action Field Crossover. After the Solid Vision forms the platforms, Yuzu begins the chant.

"Duelist locked in battle!"

"Do I have to do this?" Yuri grumbles.

"Yes." Yuzu along with Yuto, Yuya, and Yugo, and although he couldn't hear them, Serena, Rin, and Ruri all say in unison.

"Sigh, fine. Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters."

"They storm the field."

"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling."

"Action. Duel!" The action cards scatter across the field and Yuzu takes the first turn.

"I set the pendulum scales with scale 3 Glee the Melodious and scale 5 Wagnera the Melodious Maestra. Pendulum scale setting." Appearing in the pillars of light are a pink skinned woman in a red dress over a 3 while the other a lime skinned woman in a porcelain white dress that looks like it's from the earlier 1800s over a 5.

Yuzu's Scales: 3-5.

"Now Pendulum summon! Appear Aria the Melodious Diva and Serenade the Melodious Diva."

Aria the Melodious Diva. Level: 4. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 1600. Defense: 1200.

Serenade the Melodious Diva. Level: 4. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 400. Defense: 1900.

"Now I activate Wagnera's effect. Once per turn, I can treat a Melodious monster as a Melodious Maestra monster and I can also fusion summon a Melodious monster with monsters I control. I fuse Aria and Serenade. Angel's song! Supreme genius! With the guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion summon! Now come here to the stage! Sing the song of victory! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!" Appearing onto the field is Yuzu's signature monster. The sight of the singing flower fairy wows the spectators.

"Since I special summoned a Melodious monster from my extra deck, Glee increases Wagnera's pendulum scale by 1."

Yuzu's scales: 3-6.

Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir. Level: 6. Light. Fairy/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2000.

"I just remembered that we never dueled. So I think it's best that you know that Bloom Diva can't be destroyed by battle or card effects plus I don't take any battle damage. Also if it battles a special summoned monster–"

"–The monster will be destroyed and I'll take damage equal to the difference in attack. Yuya already told me about your cards early this morning." Yuri interrupts.

"What! Yuya how could you tell him about my deck! What kind of boyfriend are you for telling someone about my deck?!" Yuzu yells from frustration.

"Don't get mad at him. I tricked him into telling me by saying stuff like 'Yuzu must have some amazing cards' or 'your girlfriend must have good strategies'. He couldn't help but praise and gush about your dueling after that. Besides our decks have been changing so you'll probably pull out some surprises from nowhere." Yuri explains. 

"Oh, uh, sorry Yuya." Yuzu apologizes with an embarrassed blush. "Anyways, I end my turn. Let's see what surprises you can pull out of nowhere Yuri."

The spectators were momentarily confused from the conversation they were having, but forgot it when Yuzu activates the rollerboots and swiftly moves around looking for an action card. They then pay attention to Yuri, who starts his turn by drawing and he smiles.

"Well since you duel with pendulum and fusion monsters, I will too. I set the pendulum scales with scale 3 Predaplant Brocchiniakita and scale 6 Predaplant Sun Pitcher Shark. Pendulum scale setting." Putting the cards on the far side of his disk, causes a green dog with green tubes with leaves growing out of it and a shark with its mouth resembling a pitcher plant rise from pillars of light with their scales.

Yuri's scales: 3-6.

"Now I pendulum summon Predaplant Spinodionaea and with his effect, I put a predator counter on Bloom Diva making it level 1."

Predaplant Spinodionaea. Level: 4. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 1800. Defense: 0.

Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir. Level: 1. Predator Counter.

"Now that there's a monster with a predator counter on it, I can special summon Predaplant Brocchiniakita to the field from the pendulum zone and immediately fusion summon with monsters on my field." Brocchiniakita instantly appears next to Spinodionaea and they enter a swirling vortex for Yuri's fusion monster.

"Creature that's both a hungry beast and fowl flower devour all you prey upon! Fusion summon! Level 7! Predaplant Manticore Smilax!" Yuri's new fusion monster is a green and red manticore with its mane made up of leaves, berries, and vines.

Predaplant Manticore Smilax. Level: 7. Dark. Plant/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 1600.

"As long as Manticore Smilax is on the field all monsters with predator counters on them can't activate their effects or be destroyed by battle, but you'll take double the damage from battles involving them. Now Predaplant Manticore Smilax attack Bloom Diva! Carrion Fangs!"

Yuzu jumps around and rolls on the wheels of her boots until she grabs an action card. "Action Magic Miracle. With it I half the battle damage."

"But you still take the damage." Yuri says.

Yuzu: 2500 life points.

"I end my turn with two face down cards."

"My turn. Draw. I play the continuous magic card, Leitmotif. Now until the end of my turn, I can increase or decrease the scale of a pendulum card I control by 2, but I can only special summon Melodious monsters this turn. I increase Wagnera's scale to 8."

Yuzu's scales: 3-8.

"Now I pendulum summon. Appear with flowers as beautiful as your singing! Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert." From above comes a lovely lady with an equally lovely voice. She has a pink hair in a tousled updo with an elegant, blue concert dress covered in green and purple flowers.

Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

With her new monster on the field, Yuzu happily continues unaware that Yuri will stop her. "Now I use Wagnera's effect to–."

"No you won't. I activate the continuous trap card, Predaprison. With this card you can only special summon one monster during either of our turns. So you can't bring out anything else." With that play, Yuri's trap summons vines that cover her field.

"Well then I'll destroy your monster." Yuzu huffs. "I attack with Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert! Spring Chorus!"

"Are you trying to cause a draw? I guess you must be the weakest of your counterparts." Yuri comments.

"I'd get mad but I'll make you eat those words. Leitmotif has a second effect. When a Melodious monster special summoned this turn battles, the opponent's monster loses 800 attack."

Predaplant Manticore Smilax. Attack: 1700.

Yuzu's magic card releases a soothing melody that compliments the Bloom Lead's singing, which causes sound waves surrounded by flower petals. The attack destroys the now weakened Manticore causing colorful petals and carrion leaves to spread the field. However, the leaves then fly to Yuri's unoccupied pendulum zone to reform Manticore Smilax there.

Yuri: 3200 life points.

Yuri's scale: 1-6.

"If I don't control a Predaplant or Dark fusion monster. Then Predaprison is destroyed." Yuri says as his trap card is sent to the graveyard.

"I'm not done. When Bloom Lead destroys a special summoned monster, it deals damage to you equal to its attack." Bloom Lead gets up close to Yuri and sings a high note so sharp he has to cover his ears.

Yuri: 1500 life points.

"Now I attack with Bloom Diva. Go!"

"Not going to happen." Yuri smirks. "Trap card open. Predaprey. Now I can negate an attack involving a monster with a predator counter and my opponent will lose life points equal to half of that monster's attack while I gain what's lost." The attack is stopped and their life points shift.

Yuri: 2000 life points.

Yuzu: 2000 life points.

With no cards in her hand, Yuzu is forced to end her turn.

Yuzu's scales: 3-6.

"My turn. Draw. I pendulum summon from the extra deck, Predaplant Brocchiniakita. Now Sun Pitcher Shark's pendulum effect activates. When I summon a dark pendulum monster from my extra deck, I can reveal a monster from my deck or extra deck and have that monster gain it's name, level, and monster card type. I pick Starving Venom Fusion Dragon." Brocchiniakita becomes covered by a glowing silhouette of Starving Venom.

Predaplant Brocchiniakiakita (Starving Venom Fusion Dragon). Level: 8. Fusion.

"Now I play Pendulum Fusion. I use the Brocchiniakita on my field and the Sun Pitcher Shark in my pendulum zone as materials for my fusion summoning. Poisonous dragon that craves power! Take on this new form so you can reach your fill! Fusion summon! Level 8! Poisonous dragon the feeds on strength! Starving Venom Desire Dragon!"

From the vortex appears a dragon that looks like Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, but the gold and dark green parts of it's body are bright green and the pink orbs are a vivid red.

Starving Venom Desire Dragon. Level: 8. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2000.

"Since Starving Venom Desire Dragon was fusion summoned, it gains 500 attack points for each other special summoned monster on the field. Also I can permanently negate the effect of another monster on the field. So I choose Bloom Diva." Desire Dragon gains a purple aura to signify its increase in power. Then it sends out its mouth tendrils to grab onto Bloom Diva and drain her of her abilities.

Starving Venom Desire Dragon. Attack: 3800.

With her monster depowered, and the fact she's facing a different version of Yuri's nightmarish dragon, Yuzu rushes to find an action card. The sight causes Yuri to boast about his upcoming victory, but not out of his old habit of sadistic toying with his opponent, but rather so he can boast from the feeling of approaching victory.

"If I were you Yuzu, I pray that you get something very good because Manticore Smilax's pendulum effect makes it so that any battle damage my open takes involving a monster with a predator counter will be doubled. So hope you don't grab another Miracle. Starving Venom! Toxic Desires!"

Yuzu spots an action card on a high platform and uses her entertainment training to leap toward it, while hoping it'll be something useful. Starving Venom Desire Dragon releases of massive wave of purple energy that strikes Yuzu's field. When the dust clears, everyone wonders what the result is.

And they are surprised as not only is Yuzu is still in the game but Bloom Diva still stands while Bloom Lead is gone.

Yuzu: 700 life points.

Starving Venom Desire Dragon. Attack: 3300.

"Action Magic Battle Change." Yuzu reveals with a smile. "I switched the target of your monster's attack to Bloom Lead. Our duel isn't over yet Yuri."

"Very well. I'm beginning to like duels that don't go the way you think." Yuri shrugs with a happy expression. "I end my turn."

Before Yuzu starts her turn, she starts scaling up to the highest platform for a grand announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen. It's now time for the final performance. Though everything has been unexpected for us today, I will promise you this. In the end, it'll be the princess who'll slay the dragon. Now, draw!" Yuzu draws her card with the card leaving a trail of pink music notes and lines.

"I use Leitmotif to increase Wagnera's scale to 8. Now return from the extra deck, Bloom Lead." With the scales' gap widened, Bloom Lead returns from the portal.

"Then I'll use Wagnera's pendulum effect to use monsters I control for a fusion summon. With a powerful voice sing the finale that'll rain flowers from the cheering crowd! Fusion summon! This is your moment to shine! Level 8! Bloom Star the Melodious Concert."

Bloom Star the Melodious Concert. Level: 8. Light. Fairy/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2500.

To contrast the dragon with flowers meant to allure bugs, Bloom Star appears as the star of a high class concert with her beautiful bright purple hair and dress covered in flowers. Its lovely entrance enthralls the crowd, but stop when Yuri speaks.

"I banish Predaprison from my graveyard. Now I'll place a predator counter on every special summoned monster you control."

"That won't happen Yuri. I discard Monotone the Melodious Diva from my hand to make it so that Melodious Star can't be affected by your spell and trap cards this turn." Yuri's trap card appears and fires a predator counter. It's stopped by a singer in black with a dull expression.

"Now then, when Bloom Star is fusion summoned she gains 300 attack points for each Melodious monster in my grave and face up in my extra deck. Also when she fights a special summoned monster, it will lose 300 for each Melodious and Leitmotif's effect will also activate."

Bloom Star the Melodious Concert. Attack: 4000.

Doing the math in his head, with 4 Melodious monsters in the graveyard and one face up in her extra deck plus the 800 point loss from Leitmotif. Yuri calculates that Starving Venom Desire Dragon's attack will be reduced to 2000 by this attack and his life points 0. Yet all he can do is smile at his inevitable defeat.

"Bloom Star the Melodious Concert destroy Starving Venom Desire Dragon. Fleur Canon Finale!"

The mixture of sound and flowers fired destroys the dragon and causes its disintegration to turn the large monster into an explosion of flower petals.

Yuri: 0 life points. Yuzu wins.

As the action field disappears, Yuzu goes to Yuri.

"So does this loss of mine make up for chasing you across the dimensions." Yuri says.

"I think just having fun together is enough." The two lock their hands together out of respect. However, the mood gets killed when someone blows a whistle.

"Hey you two! Aren't you supposed to be in Academy?" A man yells at the two.

"Huh, guess the juvenile officers are still around. Well better roll out of here." Yuri activates his rollerboots and rides away followed by Yuzu. The officer chases them but eventually he loses the two. They were able to get on the edge of a roof to evade him.

"You know it was a good idea to duel in a public area like that. Watching the guy look for us is just fun." Yuri laughs.

Yuzu just gives him an annoyed look but gets over it quickly. She then starts asking him a question. "Hey, Yuri during the duel why didn't you try to grab an action card. It probably could have helped." 

"Action Cards are Yuya and your thing. My personality has changed but my dueling style hasn't."

"I guess that makes sense. Something else I want to know is why did you choose to talk about your family and childhood feelings to me exactly?"

"Huh. Don't get a big head Yuzu. I didn't tell you about my childhood because there's something special about you specifically. I told you that so that I could tell the other's about my past."

"Eh?"

"Remember, no matter who's in control of our bodies, all our counterparts can hear our conversations. I wasn't just opening up to you, but also to the others in each of our minds. The fact that you're the one controlling the main body for your counterparts had nothing to do with my reasons for telling."

"Oh I see what you mean." There's a brief silence before Yuzu breaks it. "So what do we do now for the rest of the day?"

"We could prank the juvenile officers." Yuri suggests grinning.

"I'm beginning to wonder how much of your personality has changed."


	6. Yuto & Serena

Yuto finishes his breakfast at the Sakaki house. "Ok I'm off to meet Serena."

"Hope you two enjoy your day." Yusho says.

"Hold up, Yuto." Yoko stops the xyz counterpart. "If you're going to the Xyz Dimension, you'll need a lunch. Don't want you eating all the refugee's food."

Yoko forcefully gives him a large lunch box. From the smell, some of the stuff inside was freshly cooked. A part of Yuto feels that this may be excessive but then he smiles. Despite some eccentricities the two have, Yusho and Yoko remind him of his parents.

Someone knocks on the door. At first, Yuto thought it was Serena, but when he opens the door, it's some people from LDS. "Hello. Does a Yoko Sakaki live here?"

"Oh it came already." Yoko smiles. She takes the large box the men delivered and enthusiastically take sit into the garage. She quickly comes back in the room. "By the way, Yuto. I don't want you Yuri, Yugo, or even Yuya entering the garage until its ready. Trust me, you'll love it."

Yuto and Yusho just stare for a moment before Yuto asks. "Do you know what she's doing in there?"

"I could ask but even I want to be surprised by she's doing." Yusho says.

Yuto and Serena roll to the dimensional portal for the xyz portal both surprisingly carrying lunches.

"So Yuzu's dad made you something to eat too?" Yuto asks.

"Yeah. Ruri told him everything about the Xyz dimension and made this since we're going back. Don't really understand why? We've been fine on food before." Serena says.

"That's the thing about parents. They're always concerned about their kids even ones who look like them and sharing a body with them."

"Sounds like they remind you of your parents." Serena then thinks for a moment. "You do have parents don't you?"

"I'll explain later." Yuto says with some sadness in his voice.

The two cross through the portal for the xyz dimension. Serena wanted to go since, while she never even stepped foot in the xyz dimension, she wanted to help out along with the rest of Academy. Yuto had no objections since he was going to see his friends and home again. When they crossover, both are shocked to see it looks different from when Yuto and Ruri visited. All the rubble is gone and most of the people working are construction crews.

"Have they made this much progress so quickly?" Yuto asks.

"Surprising how much people can accomplish when they work together." The voice came from a puff of smoke that releases doves. When it clears, Dennis appears in front of them. "Well it's good to see you again Serena. Oh and you must be Yuto. Not to judge anyone's clothing, but what's with all the black?"

"I like black. That's it." Yuto answers with a flat look.

"Dennis where are the Resistance and how come everything looks more clean?" Serena asks.

"That's easy. Thanks to Academy and the Resistance combined help, we were able to clean things up and make sure everyone is safe in shelters. Now we're moving onto the restoration part. Principal Edo sent over many electricians and construction crews to repair the damage. Though now that means there's nothing much for people like us to do other than make sure the survivors are taken care of or entertain them with dueling." Dennis tells them.

"We do still want to help so just take us to a shelter or something." Yuto suggests.

"Ok, but don't be surprised if there's not much to do."

Dennis was right as he took them to the closest shelter. There are many refugees but all of their needs were being taken care of by Academy and Resistance members. Though the trip wasn't a complete waste as someone notices Yuto or rather his face.

"Yuya! It's been so long since I've seen you. You want to have a duel later." Grace Tyler says hugging Yuto.

" _Who's that girl and why is hugging Yuto?"_ Ruri says with clear jealousy.

" _And how does she know Yuya?"_ Yuzu chimes in with equal annoyance toward the older woman.

" _Yuto. Tell Grace to stop hugging us."_ Yuya says feeling a bit uncomfortable.

" _No let her keep hugging us."_ Yugo begs with a lustful blush on his face.

"I'm not Yuya. I'm Yuto." Yuto shoves the silver haired sister away.

"Remember sister, Yuya's four people in one body now." Gloria shows up.

"Oh. Sorry, but you really do look like Yuya. By the way, could he have another entertaining match with me later today."

"Yuto and I are suppose to have a duel later plus Yuto's in control of the body all day so no you won't see Yuya today." Serena explains.

"Oh. I guess I can wait later then." Grace sighs.

"We want to help out with fixing Heartland." Serena says.

"Good luck with that." Gloria explains. "All the real work is being done by people with useful skills and everyone else have taken care of every refugee that they're getting too much help."

"Since we're not really needed here, we can look around the city to see if there's anyone we missed." Grace offered.

"Sounds good. Let's go Serena." Yuto says.

"Ok."

Much like Serena and Yuto, the Tyler sisters also have a pair of rollerboots. Academy helped create more thanks to the notes and information Allen gave them to make more. They roll around Heartland for a while with the only people they could fine are the people repairing the buildings.

They pass the time with Grace and Gloria talk about how they met Yuya and how he won them over with his entertainment duel. Yuto also points out different wrecked buildings explaining what they were and his memories of them. He stops to look at a broken down church.

Noticing this, Serena turns to the Tyler sisters. "Hey can you guys go on without us. We can find our way back."

"If you think so. Call one of the Academy or Resistance members you know if you get lost." Gloria tells them as she and Grace roll off.

Serena rolls right up the sulking Yuto.

"So you want me to confess about my life." Yuto says.

"You never said anything about yourself when you spent the day with Ruri." Serena points out.

"Ruri and I know about each other's lives so there was no point in talking about stuff we already know."

"Well I don't and I'm curious about your parents."

"Not much to say. They're both dead. My dad died in a traffic accident when I was six. My mom passed away from a stroke when I was ten."

Serena didn't want to poke to far since it was making him look depressed so she started asking about the church. "I take it that church over there means something to you."

"My parents would take me there for Sunday services, my mom especially."

"I didn't know you were religious."

"Actually I'm not sure I am anymore. I did believe in it once but when my parents died and Academy invaded, my outlook became more doubtful. Though at the same time I don't want to denounce it all together since it did give my parents hope no matter what."

"I don't really understand what you mean by that."

"Guess it's something only I can figure out." Yuto rolls back and decides to return to the camp. "Where since there's nothing much for us to do. We might as well keep everyone's spirit's up with a duel."

"Yeah. Let's see which of us is better at using the other's summoning style."

Back at the camp, they see Shun and Dennis dueling. It ends with Shun's victory. The two appear saying that they're next and everyone's excited to see Yuto's duel. However, the members of the Academy are more excited to see Serena so they can see if the rumors about her skills are true. The duel starts.

Yuto: 4000 life points.

Serena: 4000 life points.

"I'll go first." Serena says moving around on her rollerboots to start her moves. "I play Polymerization to fuse Lunalight Blue Cat and Lunalight Cyan Turtle. Blue cat that prowls through the darkness. Turtle with an indestructible shell. Spiral into the moon's gravity and become a new power. Fusion summon! Level 7! Lunalight Cat Dancer!"

Lunalight Cat Dancer. Level: 7. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.

When Cat Dancer is summoned, Serena mimics the holograms movements while continuing her play. "I activate Fusion Recovery to add Polymerization and Lunalight Cyan Turtle to my hand. Then I play Polymerization again to fuse Cat Dancer and Cyan Turtle. The beautiful beast dancing in the moonlight. Turtle with an indestructible shell. Swarm in the vortex of the moon's gravity and become a new power! Fusion summon! Level 8! Lunalight Panther Dancer!"

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Level: 8. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2500.

"Lunalight Panther Dancer can't be destroyed by my opponent's card effects and because I used Lunalight Cyan Turtle to fusion summon it, I take no battle damage from attacks involving her. I set a card and end my turn."

" _Serena's going all out early."_ Yuzu says.

" _She's probably preparing for whatever Yuto will do."_ Ruri says.

Yuto has been moving around and stops so he can make's his move. "Draw. I play Graceful Charity."

"You've had that card in your deck." Serena, Shun, Allen, Sayaka, the counterparts and other members of the Resistances shout from the reveal that Yuto has such a rare card.

"I draw 3 cards and discard 2. Then I set four cards face down then I play Emergency Provisions to destroy all four of them and gain 4000 life points." Yuto says.

Yuto: 8000 life points.

" _Serena. Maybe you should try working on a different dueling style."_ Ruri says.

"I banish Phantom Knight's Wing to special summon The Phantom Knight's of Cloven Helm then I summon from my hand The Phantom Knight's of Fragile Armor." Yuto summons.

The Phantom Knight's of Cloven Helm. Level: 4. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1500. Defense: 500.

The Phantom Knight's of Fragile Armor. Level: 4. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2000.

"Now I overlay my two level 4 monsters. Formed from pitch-black darkness to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!" Yuto calls forth his dragon. "Now I remove 2 Overlay Units to cut half of your monster's attack so it can gains what's lost. I choose Panther Dancer. Lightning Disobey!"

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Dark. Rank: 4. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2500 (now 3900). Defense: 2000.

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Attack: 1400.

"Now I banish The Phantom Knight's Shifting Mist from my graveyard to negate Panther Dancer's effects. Now you'll take damage when I attack. Go! Dark Rebellion!" Dark Rebellion swoops down and destroys Panther Dancer with its fangs.

"I play Lunalight Reincarnation Dance." Serena says. "I add Lunalight Crimson Fox and Lunalight Indigo Coyote. Since Lunalight Indigo Coyote was added to my hand, I special summon it."

Lunalight Indigo Coyote. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1400.

"Very well. I end my turn and I can now banish Cloven Helm to add a Phantom Knight's card from my graveyard to my hand."

"My turn. Draw. I summon Lunalight Crimson Fox." Serena says.

Lunalight Crimson Fox. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1800. Defense: 600.

"Now that I control two level 4 Beast-Warriors, I will overlay them. Beasts that prowl in the darkness of the same power! Unite as one power under the moonlight! Xyz summon! Rank 4! Lunalight Hyena Dancer!" Both Serena and her new monster strike a pose. The woman summoned has on a simple yellow dance dress with moon accessories and hyena features.

Lunalight Hyena Dancer. Rank: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Xyz/Effect/2400/2000.

"Now I remove an overlay unit from Hyena Dancer to special summon a Lunalight monster from my graveyard. I pick Blue Cat which will double the attack of Hyena Dancer thanks to its effect and the monster I detached from Hyena Dancer was Crimson Fox so your dragon's attack gets reduced to 0."

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Attack: 0.

Lunalight Hyena Dancer. Attack: 4800.

"Now go Hyena Dancer! Night Time Moves!" Serena commands her monster.

"If a Dark monster I control would be destroyed, I banish Phantom Knight's Spear to prevent the destruction." Yuto says.

"But you'll still take the damage."

Yuto: 3200.

"Since Hyena Dancer attacked a monster, it'll now gain 300 attack point but Blue Cat's effect only lasts until the end of the turn. I'll end my turn with a face down card."

Lunalight Hyena Dancer. Attack: 2700.

Yuto draws and smiles when he sees the card. "Alright Serena. Don't get cocky just because you know how to xyz summon because now we're going to see who's better at using each other's style." Yuto flips the card to reveal it to be Polymerization. This makes Serena smile big with excitement.

"I play Polymerization and I fuse Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon and The Phantom Knight's of Fragile Armor in my hand. Power granted to you by the swirling vortex! Descend down on all who oppose you! Fusion summon! Strike them down! Level 8! Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon!" What appeared is a purple version of Dark Rebellion covered in orbs that shined like rainbows.

Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon. Level: 8. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500.

"Now Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon has an effect where during my turn, I can copy the name and effect of a face up level 5 or higher monster. However, since your monsters don't fit that requirement I'll instead attack Lunalight Hyena Dancer. When Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon attacks that monster's attack become 0."

Lunalight Hyena Dancer. Attack: 0.

To prevent losing Serena activates Lunalight Dance of the Dead so she can banish Lunalight Cat Dancer so Hyena Dancer's attack won't be zero though she still loses a good amount of life points along with her monster.

Serena: 900 life points.

"Good job Yuto, but Hyena Dancer has one more move. When my opponent destroys it while it had an Overlay Unit on it, I can special summon any other Lunalight monster from my graveyard but it'll be banished when it leaves the field. I choose Lunalight Panther Dancer."

With Serena's monster revived, Yuto ends his turn.

Serena draws and initiates her turn. "I play Fusion Recovery to add Lunalight Cyan Turtle and Polymerization to my hand."

"You had a copy of that card?" Yuto asks.

"All the best duelists carry copies of good cards in their deck." Serena responds. "Now I play Polymerization to fuse Lunalight Panther Dancer, Lunalight Cyan Turtle, and Lunalight Blue Cat! Elegant beast dancing on the moonlight wilderness! Blue cat that prowls through the darkness! Turtle with an indestructible shell! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 10! The king of beasts dancing atop the summit of the moonlight wilderness! Lunalight Leo Dancer!"

Lunalight Leo Dancer. Level: 10. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3500. Defense: 3000.

"I expected a Xyz monster." Yuto comments.

"Sorry but this is my style." Serena says. "Now Leo Dancer attack Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon!"

"Sorry but like you said Serena, the best duelists carry copies of good cards. I prevent my monster's destruction by banishing my other copy of Phantom Knight's Spear from my graveyard."

"But you'll still take the damage."

Yuto: 2700 life points.

"However, Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon will still be gone. After Leo Dancer attacks, all special summoned monsters my opponent controls are destroyed." Leo Dancer does a roundhouse kick after swinging her sword and destroys the dragon. "Also Leo Dancer can attack twice per turn so Leo Dancer finish things." Leo performs an elaborate dance with her sword and strikes.

Yuto: 0 life points. Serena wins.

Everyone claps for the two and Serena helps Yuto up who just smirks. "Well looks like I'm better at using fusion than you are at xyz summoning."

"Wait what are you talking about. My monster did far more damage to you than anything you used." Serena argues.

"True but in the end you had to result to using fusion monsters. I was willing to use both equally." Yuto teases.

Before the argument could escalate to an actual fight, a bunch of Xyz children come up to Yuto and Serena to ask if they could teach them how to duel. As they walk Yuzu pops in. _"Hey Serena why didn't you use Crimson Fox's other effect. You could banish it to negate Dark Rebellion Strength Dragon's effect so it couldn't reduce your monster's attack and destroy it during the battle."_

"True. However, Crimson Fox increases both players' life points afterwards by a 1000, and he still had Phantom Knight's Spear in his graveyard. Plus I did not want Yuto to gain anymore life points after that stunt he did earlier. Besides not knowing what happens next makes a duel more fun."

 **Note: Serena's fusion summon chants are pretty repetitive since the only changes are the descriptions of the monster's she used. I wanted to do more with this chapter but unexpected health problems have prevented that. Please pray I'll get better.**


	7. Yuri & Rin

"This day is going to feel so weird." Rin pouts while rolling to the Sakaki house.

" _Don't worry Rin. We know Yuri's changed plus you're going back to the Synchro dimension. This day shouldn't be too bad."_ Yuzu comforts.

"True. I've heard that the City changed for the better, but I don't know how to react."

" _What do you mean? Shouldn't the fixed problems of your home be a good thing?"_ Ruri asks.

"Well yes. I guess it's just something that I've gotten used to and now that it's gone, I'm not sure how to adjust. It's like living in a small apartment during your childhood and then unexpectedly they move you into a big house. It's not bad just too sudden to adjust."

" _Rin no matter how you feel at least you don't have to deal with that corrupt Security."_ Serena says.

"Yeah you're right Serena." Rin smiles.

She soon arrives at the Sakaki household where Yuri is waiting outside looking bored. "About time you showed up."

"Well I was thinking about stuff. I haven't seen the Synchro dimension in months so I have to be mentally prepared." Rin replies.

"Fine. Let's just go."

"Wait." Rin stops him to ask something. "Isn't Ringo here?"

"Who?"

"The D-Wheel Yugo and I built together. I want to ride it around the City when we get to the Synchro Dimension."

"Yugo put it into the garage but good luck getting it out. Yuya's old woman lock downed the garage to everyone but herself."

"Well ask for her to bring it out."

"No."

Yuri's response starts a tick mark to appear on Rin's cheerful face and her voice starts sounding more passive aggressive. "And why is that?"

"Because I don't see the point of riding around on that machine just to duel. At least, the rollerboots and action field let you do more than just stand around. A D-Wheel makes no since." Yuri bluntly explains.

" _Yuri. You're going to die."_ Yugo says. Yuri was going to respond to what he said until Rin grabs him by the collar with anger in her voice.

"Listen here you purple cabbage head. Me and Yugo put are blood, sweat, and tears into that D-Wheel. It represents our souls as riding duelists and to experience the ultimate freedom and I'm bringing it with me!" Rin shouts shaking Yuri back and forth.

"Ok. Just let me tell Mrs. Sakaki." A literal shaken up Yuri gives in.

Yuri got Yoko, who's wearing coveralls, bring out Ringo so long as the two were inside and didn't look in the garage to keep her secret. The white D-Wheel is brought out and she says goodbye to the two. They put on their helmets and Rin, in her excitement, goes off at full throttle. She goes so fast she doesn't hear Yuri's screams of terror from how fast they're going.

They reach the Leo Corporation, where the gateway is open, and crossover while still on the D-Wheel. At that moment, Rin and Yuri are now in the City. Rin rides across the roads looking around at everything. She's filled with joy that she's finally back in her home: the many tall buildings, the water under the higher roads, and the green hills around the Tops area. Seeing everything as she rides around does show subtle differences from when she left. For one thing, Security seems lighter and the Commons bustle about livelier. She'll check out the whole City later because right now she wants to stop at the orphanage she and Yugo grew up at.

Soon, the D-Wheel pulls up to a stop at their orphanage. Rin gets off and when she takes off her helmet, the housekeeper sees her. "Rin! You're back."

"Isabella. It's been so long." Rin hugs the caretaker when some of the younger kids come up to her. They say stuff to her like 'where have you been', 'where's Yugo', and other questions.

During all this Rin remembers. "Oh by the way, Yugo is busy with something but I brought a friend of his. Everyone meet Yuri."

Yuri's introduction was far from spectacular as he's heaving in a nearby trashcan from the ride.

In Yugo and Rin's old room, Yuri cleans up after his wild ride. He's more annoyed by Yugo's nonstop laughing than throwing up. He had to subside his anger when Rin comes in.

"Wow. Yuri did you see the kids. They're so happy with how things have changed."

"Really. I thought it was the sight of the doppelganger of their friend puking."

"Stop being sardonic. Things are really great. The new city council has help improved things so that the Commons get more food and resources, there are new teaching programs, and the children are being donated stuff like toys, cards, and even D-Wheel parts. Every one here now has a chance to be a pro-duelist. Strangely they say they got rid of the Underground, I never thought that would go away, but at least their chances are better."

"Yes. Yes. You've just entered a wonderland where all your dreams came true. Well let's get this over with."

"What do you mean?" Rin went from happy to confused.

"Our duel. I guess that you want to show off in from of those kids to show them a good duel. So let's do it." Yuri readies his duel disk.

Rin becomes hesitant and shifts her eyes as if she's trying to think of something until she shouts "Wait!"

"Huh?" Yuri just looks at her.

"Not yet. I heard that the people who've helped out will be coming with more donations and I want to thank and help. So let's postpone the duel later." Rin leaves the room with Yuri staring blankly at the door.

" _What's with Rin? I never knew her to turn down a duel."_ Yugo says.

" _Something's troubling her but I can't think of anything."_ Yuya says.

"Whatever." Yuri scoffs. "When she wants to talk, she'll talk. In the mean time, I better keep myself busy."

For the next ten minutes at least, Rin spent time with the children showing them her D-Wheel. Yuri spent his time standing around feeling bored until he could duel or something else happened. Something did happened as two riding duelists appear with crates. Pulling off their helmets it's Crow and Shinji delivering food.

"Hey kids. Got you a new stock." Crow greets when he sees Rin. "Hey you. You're one of those dimensional girls Yuya and Yuzu talked about a week ago aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm Rin and you are?" Rin puts her hand out for a shake.

"The name's Crow. Is Yuya here or Yugo cause these kids love talking about you and him."

"No they aren't but their fusion counterpart Yuri is here. He's over there looking bored." Yuri just looks at the two riding duelists a quickly raises his hand up so signify a hello. He then notices Shinji approach him.

"Hey you're not doing anything?" Shinji asks holding boxes.

"No. I'm just wai–" Yuri says until he's interrupted by Shinji forcing the boxes onto him.

"Great. Take these boxes jarred and canned food in the kitchen and unbox them. Make sure you stock them right in the pantry." Shinji orders before going to get more.

Yuri tries to protest but Yuto pops up. _"You know a guy like you should be trying to helping others."_

" _Not to mention that this'll make Rin happy so you better help out."_ Yugo shouts at his fusion side.

" _Even if you don't like it then you can think about this way. Once you and Rin are done helping around here then you two can duel so that should be something."_ Yuya says trying to be easier with Yuri.

"Fine." Yuri reluctantly agrees.

After half an hour, Yuri had not only helped get the preserved food out but also properly stocked them. He felt really annoyed since this was far from his comfort zone, but it's done so he can finally get his duel. Until Rin popped in the kitchen along with the caretaker.

"Oh good you're in here." Isabella says. "I'm really happy you're able help out so much with the children Yuri."

"Thanks. I'm glad I'm done." Yuri says.

"Well you're not done yet. Rin says you'd help me cook lunch for the children."

"She what!"

"Don't worry Yuri I'm sure you can cook something good. Anyways I can't talk. Got to set things up for lunch. Bye." Rin says in hurry as she leaves. A ticked off Yuri wanted to chase her down but was stopped by Isabella throwing an apron at him and dragging him through the kitchen to show what he needs to do.

Rin enters the dining room with a sigh of relief. Before she could set the table, her other sides pop up.

" _So are you trying to make him go evil predator again or are you secretly a sadist?"_ Serena remarks at her synchro counterpart.

"You three know what it's about and I'm not ready yet." Rin tells all of them.

" _I know exactly what you mean Rin, but Yuri is not the kind of guy you can just string along like this."_ Ruri says.

" _You'll have to talk about it to him soon or things will start getting ugly."_ Yuzu says.

Rin just stood in silence knowing they are right. While thinking about what to do, she pulls out her deck and the first card she sees is a familiar fusion monster.

Later, the children sit at the table with their lunch ready along with Rin and Yuri. Rin's glad all the children are happy and Yuri feels nothing but apathy. When everyone starts eating, the kids start talking about the day. When they mention that Shinji and Crow had extra time so they entertained the kids with a duel, Rin mentions how it's great the kids got to watch one today. This makes Yuri put down his fork, get up, and walk behind Rin.

"If you would excuse us. I need to talk to Rin." Yuri says in a flat tone.

"Huh. Yuri I haven't st-" Rin was going to protest but when she looks up all she sees are Yuri's eyes filled with murder. This instantly changed her mind. "On second thought. Please excuse us."

Outside, Yuri grabs Rin by her collar and stares menacingly at her. "Alright. I don't know why but I want to know why are you trying to avoid a duel with me? Dueling will help us separate so you'll tell me why you refuse to duel now."

Rin trembled but it wasn't from Yuri but rather admitting the truth, which to her was worse given the reason. However, she knew she wasn't getting out of this so she confesses. "I'm scared of fusion summoning."

"That's it. Look I'm sorry I kidnapped you but–."

"No it's not because of you. It was because of that parasite."

"Parasite?" Yuri wonders what she meant until he remembers. "Wait. Are you talking about that freak Doktor that uses those Fusion Parasite things?"

"Yes I am." Yuri lets go of her collar seeing the traumatized look on her face. The other bracelet girls also feel shivers while the other dragon boys felt anger remembering that.

"I don't blame you. That man was nothing but a pest. From what I can tell, the Professor only brought him on board out of desperation for his plans." Yuri explains. "So that's your problem with fusion summoning Rin."

"In a way. When the control was gone, I don't recall what happened, but a few days after I came back, I along with Yuzu, Ruri, and Serena began to remember what happened whe we were under control of the Doktor. It was terrifying."

"Funny because none of you acted like someone controlled you."

"I could say the same about how none of you boys act like you were just a literal monster that wanted to destroy everything."

There's a pause for a moment as all eight think about how their lives until now was just trauma. It ends when Rin speaks up.

"When I was under control, Yugo was the first to find me. He was so happy but then that damn bug forced me to duel him. It wasn't just that it wanted me to defeat him, I felt like destroying him. The only reason I didn't was because of the Professor's plan. And I was using fusion summoning to do it."

"So you're either afraid of remembering that day or that you'll hurt someone if you use fusion summoning?"

Rin nods.

Yuri stays silent for a moment before finally speaking. "Well I got bad news for you. Fusion summoning is who you are and you better accept it."

"Who I am? No it's not, I'm a synchro user. Where did you get an idea like that?" Rin raises her voice.

"Because we are each a forth of someone else and we're sharing bodies with the other three forths. One of them I might add for you is a fusion user." Yuri explains.

"So you think because we're fractions that means all four summoning mechanics are something that we can just naturally use."

"Don't know. I'm just making assumptions. I only thought that since over the past few days not only have all of us been able to use different styles like it's normal, but that people are more than just a few traits."

"What do you mean?" Rin's curiosity increased at what Yuri now had to say.

"Well, for example, there's more to Yuzu than some crazy girl who hits people with a fan and there's more to Yuya than being a foolish clown." Yuya and Yuzu just groan that he took something insightful and turned into an insult.

"You mean like how there's more to you than someone who mocks people at every chance." Rin replies with annoyance.

"And this conversation is turning into the two of us insulting each other isn't it?"

"Well it's good to see you can notice something."

"Whatever. I'll just give you advice from someone who has hurt a lot of people with fusion." Yuri pulls out Starving Venom and Polymerization from his deck and puts them in front of her. "These cards are no different than any of others. The only reason they would hurt someone is if the one using them wanted to, and unless Yugo is as delusional as I think he is, from what I heard you would never willingly do that."

The words sank in but all Rin could say is that they should get back to their lunch. So they returned to the dining hall to eat. After they ate, the two helped do the dishes though mostly in silence. The only one who did talk was Rin to Isabella whenever she said something to the young girl. After they finished and saw the orphans, Rin spoke up.

"Hey kids who wants to see a duel with me and Yuri?"

All the kids gleefully agreed to the idea and Rin drags Yuri outside for the duel.

"So you got over your problems?" Yuri asks.

"No but I figure I can try to, and beat you at the same time." Rin proclaims.

"Big words. Let's see how much they hold true."

Outside, the two are ready and the children watch as their impromptu audience. The duel begins.

Yuri: 4000 life points.

Rin: 4000 life points.

"For forcing me to do all those chores, I'll go first." Yuri says. "I play the continuous spell card Predapollen. Whenever I special summon a monster my extra deck using a Predaplant as a material, I draw a card though I can only use this effect three times before it's destroyed."

"I'll use it now by playing Polymerization and I fuse Predaplant Moray Nepenthes and Predaplant Pinguicamel. Dragon made of decaying plants feed off the beasts of the world. Fusion summon! Level 7! Predaplant Dragostapelia!"

Predaplant Dragostapelia. Level: 8. Dark. Plant/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2700. Defense: 1900.

"I draw and next I use the effect of Predaplant Pinguicamel to banish polymerization so I can special summon it and another level 4 or lower plant-type monster from my graveyard. There effects are negated and they're banished when they leave the field. Revive my monsters!"

Predaplant Moray Nepenthes. Level: 4. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 1600. Defense: 1000.

Predaplant Pinguicamel. Level: 3. Dark. Plant/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1800.

Once his monsters return, Yuri begins summoning his new monster. "I tune the level 3 Pinguicamel to the level 4 Moray Nepenthes to now synchro summon. Majestic horse gallop through the fields with your toxic flowers. Synchro summon! Level 7! Predaplant Phallaceae Unicorn!" A dull white unicorn appears with red eyes and hooves with a horn that resembles a red stinkhorn mushroom.

Predaplant Phallaceae Unicorn. Level: 7. Dark. Plant/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2200.

"Fusion and Synchro in one turn." Rin surprised to see what Yuri summoned.

"Predapollen activates again so I draw a card." Yuri draws. "Also Phallaceae Unicorn makes it so that the turn it's special summoned, I can discard a card and add a Predap card from my deck to my hand." Yuri discards and adds Predaprey to his hand. After that he sets two cards, one being Predaprey, and ends his turn.

"Alright Rin. Let's see your response."

"Oh you will. Draw." Rin says. She looks at the card and is surprised to see that it's Polymerization.

"What's the matter Rin? Did you get that card?" Yuri teases.

"Shut up. Anyway since I control no monsters, I special Wind Witch – Ice Bell. Now–." Rin was going to continue with Ice Bell's effect until Yuri activates a quick-play spell card. The card is Predaplant Thorn. It immediately places a predator counter onto a special summoned monster and with Dragostapelia on the field, all monsters with predator counters on them can't activate their effects.

Wind Witch – Ice Bell. Level: 3 (now 1). Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000. Predator Counter.

"Oh one more thing. Whenever a predator counter is placed on a monster, Phallaceae Unicorn deals 400 damage to that monster's controller." Yuri informs Rin as his fires a blast at her.

Rin: 3600 life points.

"Fine then I summon Wind Witch – Snow Bell." Rin states.

Wind Witch – Snow Bell. Level: 1. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

"Now I tune the now level 1 Ice Bell and my level 1 Snow Bell. Sparkling light from the snow shine your beauty. Synchro summon! Level 2! Wind Witch – Sparkle Bell!" Appearing is a little witch girl riding a broom covered in glittering white.

Wind Witch – Sparkle Bell. Level: 2. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 800.

"There are two things to know about Sparkle Bell. First, she gains the effect of the tuner used to synchro summon her so when I synchro summon using her, that monster can't be destroyed by your card effects thanks to Snow Bell's effect. Second, on the turn I synchro summon Sparkle Bell, I can special summon a Wind Witch monster from my graveyard with it's level increased by 1. So come back as a level four, Ice Witch. Oh and you take damage thanks to her effect."

Yuri: 3500 life points.

Wind Witch – Ice Bell. Level: 4.

After Yuri gets hit by the blast of cold wind, Rin then begins synchro summoning again. The green rings and stars appear as Rin starts chanting. "Ice crystals flying through the wind dazzle your enemies with rainbow light. Synchro summon! Level 6! Wind Witch – Prism Bell!" Appearing before them is a white angel with an angular bell attached to it.

Wind Witch – Prism Bell. Level: 6. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2300. Defense: 1500.

" _Thanks to sparkle bell, Prism Bell won't be destroyed by battle plus Prism Bell's ability makes it so that whenever it battles the opposing monster will lose 500 attack points and that monster's controller will take 500 damage. With this I can take on any of his monsters."_ Rin thinks to herself about what to do but Yuri stops her plans.

"I activate Dragostapelia's effect. Once during anyone's turn, it puts a predator counter on a monster and I choose Wind Witch – Prism Bell meaning it loses its effect thanks to my fusion monster and thanks to my synchro monster you lose more life."

Rin: 3200 life points

Wind Witch – Prism Bell. Level: 1. Predator Counter.

With her monster incapacitated and the threat of the face down Predaprey trap, Rin gets desperate and sets three cards to end her turn.

"My turn draw." Yuri says. "Now I summon Predaplant Chlamydosundew."

Predaplant Chlamydosundew. Level: 2. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 600. Defense: 200.

"As long as Chlamydosundew is on the field all monsters with predator counters become Dark when treated as fusion materials. Another thing it can do is let me fusion summon a Dark fusion monster using it and monsters on my field, hand, or any monster with a predator counter so I fuse Chlamydosundew with the now Dark Prism Bell."

"Not going to happen. I play the trap Uncaught Wind. All synchro monsters I control this turn are unaffected by my opponent's card effects so you can't use Prism Bell as a fusion material and her effects return this turn." Rin stops Yuri's fusion.

"Fine then I'll just fuse Chlanydosundew with Predaplant Phallacae Unicorn. Two beautiful flowers with an insect-alluring fragrance! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion summon! Level 8! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Level: 8. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2000.

Yuri's signature dragon appears and Yuri draws another card thanks to Predapollen but this destroys the card. Yuri is about to activate Starving Venom's effect but Rin stops it by playing Lost Wind. The trap negates Starving Venom's effects and halves it's attack.

Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Attack: 1400.

Since Yuri can't attack with Prism Bell having its effect back for the moment plus it'll be unaffected by Predaprey this turn. Yuri ends his turn.

"I'm impressed Rin. You're doing very good though I wonder how long you can keep it up." Yuri says with a hint of feeling astonished by her skills.

"I still got cards to use so there's no way this will end. Draw!" Rin replies drawing her new card. "I use the effect of Wind Witch – Breeze Bell. I choose a number from 1-6 and a monster on the field will have their level changed to it then I can special summon her. I choose 6 and make Predaplant Dragostapelia's level that. Now I can special summon Breeze Bell."

Predaplant Dragostapelia. Level: 6.

Wind Witch – Breeze Bell. Level: 1. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0.

As the pink and blue chain of bells appears, Yuri wonders what Rin's game plan is. Rin reveals it when she activates a trap. "I activate Synchro Material. At the cost of not being able to attack this turn I use a monster on my opponent's side of the field as a synchro material. I tune Predaplant Dragostapelia with Breeze Bell. Midwinter wind make ice and snow my power and blow through! Synchro summon! Appear! Level 7! Wind Witch – Winter Bell!"

Wind Witch – Winter Bell. Level: 7. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.

" _Good play but why didn't Rin get rid of Starving Venom?"_ Yuya questions.

" _Most likely because Lost Winds made it weak and the real threat was that Dragostapelia since it could place predator counters at any time to negate effects."_ Yuto answers.

"I use Winter Bell's effect to pick a Wind Witch monster in my graveyard and deal damage to my opponent equal to its level times 200." With this, Winter Bell fires a blast of cold wind.

Yuri: 2900 life points.

"Also I banish Breeze Bell since I have no spell or trap cards on my field so I can set a trap or spell card on my field and I choose Lost Winds." After this, Rin gets so into the duel that when she sees Polymerization, she decides to play it and continue her turn.

"I activate Polymerization and fuse Winter Bell with Prism Bell. Sound of the wind running through a snowfield of midwinter. Become one with the inner voice, and give a more violent echo! Fusion summon! Level 8! Wind Witch – Crystal Bell!"

Wind Witch – Crystal Bell. Level: 8. Wind. Spellcaster/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2400.

As the fusion monster appears, Yuri smiles that Rin seems to be getting over her trauma. Rin then uses Crystal Bell's effect. "I pick a monster in either player's graveyard so Crystal Bell will gain its name and effect. I choose Winter Bell and use its effect to also pick Winter Bell so I can deal 200 damage equal to its level. So you take 1400 damage."

Yuri: 1500 life points.

"Since I can't attack, I'll end my turn." Rin declares when she then hears Yuri clap.

"Congratulations Rin. You just fusion summoned. So does this mean your fear is gone or was this just something you did on a whim."

"Truthfully, I was getting into the moment too much. Those memories still haunt me but there's no way I'm going to let them hold me back."

"Good answer. Now it's my turn." Yuri draws his card and grins. "I play the magic card Predapick. With it I special summon from my graveyard a Predaplant monster with its effects negated but it becomes a tuner. You know what's coming. I special summon Predaplant Chlamydosundew and tune him with Starving Venom. Flowers absorbing the energy all around you. Appear to weaken and destroy your opposing foes! Synchro summon! Level 10! Starving Venom Absorption Dragon!"

Starving Venom Absorption Dragon. Level: 10. Dark. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 3300. Defense: 2500.

Yuri's newest monster looks similar to Starving Venom Fusion Dragon but it has a white color scheme. Rin activates Lost Wind but Yuri reveals that Starving Venom Absorption Dragon can negate the effect of any card that affects a level 5 or higher monster and destroy it. As a result Lost Winds is destroyed.

Yuri then continues. "That's not all. Much like with Crystal Bell, Absorption Dragon can take on the name and effect of any monster in the graveyard. I choose Predaplant Dragostapelia. Then I use its effect to put a predator counter on Crystal Bell."

Wind Witch – Crystal Bell. Level: 1. Predator Counter.

"Now I play Reload to shuffle my hand and draw another card. Well Rin it looks like it's time to end things. I play Predapesticide. I tribute a card I control to destroy every monster with a predator counter on it so I get rid of my face down Predaprey to destroy Crystal Bell."

The magic card causes Rin's monster to be completely destroyed. With her field empty, Yuri direct attacks with Starving Venom Absorption Dragon. The dragon starts shining and fires beams of pure light from its orbs that strike all around Rin.

Rin: 0 life points. Yuri wins.

All the orphans watching run to Rin out of concern but they stop when they hear her laugh. "I should have known I would lose. If I could've gotten over my fear of using fusion summoning, I could have done more throughout the duel."

"Actually I think you did good despite that Rin." Yuri offers her a hand. "In fact, I wouldn't mind dueling you when you're at your best."

Rin takes his hand and agrees to another duel later. The two counterparts say goodbye to the orphanage as they want to look around the City some more and they ride off. This time Yuri wasn't screaming. When they were far away, Yuri tells Rin to pull over.

"What is it Yuri?" Rin asks.

Yuri looks embarrassed but tells her. "The boys have been discussing it and they want me to give you and, by extension, the other girls this for them." Yuri hugs Rin in comfort. Yuri didn't need to explain it as Rin figured out that this was the boys' way of comforting her and the other bracelet girls for what happened with the parasites. Rin hugs Yuri back and whispers, "Thank you everyone."


	8. Yuya & Ruri

After Yuri and Rin returned from the Synchro dimension and head back to the Sakaki and Hiragi houses respectively. They call each other up to discuss what the day will be with the next pair of counterparts.

"Ok according to the list, Yuya and Ruri will take over tomorrow." Rin says.

"For some reason that sounds like an odd pair." Yuri comments. "Anyways Yuya just told me he doesn't really mind where they go. So does Ruri have any ideas?"

"Actually she wants to go to the Synchro dimension."

"What. We were just there. In fact, she and Yuya were both just there today."

"No they weren't." Rin then starts thinking what Yuri actually meant. "Well ok they were just there in a way but it wasn't the same way we were."

"Does she at least have a reason?"

"She says she liked how pretty the City looked also she wants to do some charity work for the Commons."

"She spent her last day helping the people of Heartland and now she wants to spend her second doing charity. What is that girl a nun or something?" Yuri then pauses before continuing. "Actually given Yuto's religious background, I wouldn't be too surprised."

" _What are you implying Yuri?"_ Yuto asks curiously.

"Well it's up to Yuya and Ruri." Rin points out.

"Find. Yuya are you alright with going to the Synchro dimension again to help Commons." Yuri asks.

" _Actually it sounds good. Plus I can finally enjoy the City without corrupt Security."_ Yuya says.

"Yuya agrees. Looks like we're going back to Synchro. Oh by the way, Ruri will have to come over here."

"How come?"

"Mrs. Sakaki finished whatever she's working on in the garage and wants to show it tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Tell Yuya, Ruri will see him tomorrow morning."

"Yeah I will." The two hung up. Before Yuri could rest in Yuya's bed he says to himself, "At least I can't get nauseous in the mind."

Morning comes and Yuya is eating the large breakfast his mother made. Before he's finished eating, Ruri knocks at the door, which attracts the number of dogs Yoko adopted. Yuya opens the door to the xyz bracelet girl.

"Hey there Ruri. Good to properly meet you." Yuya greets.

"Hello Yuya. It's nice to finally see you too." Ruri says until she sees the dogs. "Oh are these little cuties yours?"

"Well they're technically my mom's. She has a habit of adopting cute things. Anyways we shou–."

"Yusho Sakaki!" Ruri shouts when she sees and runs toward Yuya's dad. "Mr. Sakaki it's good to see you again. I'm glad you're safe."

"Thank you, Ruri. I hope you and Yuya enjoy your day."

"So can we go now?" Yuya asks.

"Not yet." Yoko says. "Come outside so I can show what I've been working."

Yuya and Ruri go outside where the garage is opening. Yoko shows them what she was building. A D-Wheel. She contacted Reiji to see if he would get her some D-Wheel parts from the Synchro dimension and he did so after she told him why she wanted them. Yoko figures they only have one D-Wheel so she used parts to alter her old motorcycle into a D-Wheel, which she calls the Shooting Star. Now the counterparts can ride on two D-Wheels when they want. Yuya and Ruri accept and get on it together. They say goodbye to Yoko and ride off to the Synchro dimension.

Eventually the two cross over and find themselves in the City. Ruri looks around and admires it. "Wow. This place is so beautiful. I can't believe it was once an oppressive society."

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Really Ruri you're lucky you didn't see it when we first came here." Yuya tells her.

"So do you know where Crow and Shinji are so we can help?"

"Yeah I know where they live. It's just that well." Yuya says with hesitation.

"What is it Yuya."

"I don't know how to get there." Yuya states with embarrassment, which makes Ruri stare with a little shock.

After riding around and asking where Crow or Shinji would be, along with Yugo and Rin giving out they're own directions, they soon come across Crow.

"Oh Yuya. It's great to see you again. So which counterpart is this?" Crow says.

"This is Ruri, Yuzu's xyz counterpart. She wanted to come here to help out with the charity work." Yuya explains.

"Whatever you need help with I can provide it." Ruri says.

"Well I don't have anymore donations to deliver though they are building a park around the Common's area. You could help with that." Crow suggests.

"That sounds like a great idea." Yuya says.

After getting directions to where the worksite is, Yuya and Ruri volunteer and find that it's more hard work than they expected. While the workers work on a playground, Yuya and Ruri help with clean up and beautification. The beautification with planting trees and flowers is dirty work and Yuya keeps failing at it. He's never worked a day in his life. Yuya's not spoiled or lazy since he's good at acrobatics and tricks for fun. The problem is he's never had to do any hard labor like dig a hole or work in dirt. As a result, he keeps slipping on the ground or pulls his shovel handle wrong that it hits him in the head like he's in some kind of Looney Tunes cartoon.

Of course, it wouldn't be Merry Melodies without a foil that out does one character. In this case, Ruri does a good job with planting the flowers like she's done it before. She goes to help with the tree. Although Ruri isn't physically strong, she does know how shovel much better than Yuya and most of the dirt only gets on her work gloves and boots.

"How? How is she so good at this?" Yuya wonders.

" _The Resistance needed to learn how to use any tool. Our duel disks helped, but knowledge on handling anything that can help us survive was essential."_ Yuto informs Yuya.

"Figures she would be good at this." Yuya walks off to get something until Yugo yells at him.

" _Yuya! Look out for that–."_ Yuya steps on something and gets hit in the face with a wooden stick. _"–rake."_ All three dragon boys look at their pendulum side who sees stars.

" _Looks like this is going to be one of those bad days for Yuya."_ Yuto laments over his friend and counterpart.

" _Maybe Ruri can help him out."_ Yugo says.

" _With his work problem or his depressed personality problem?"_ Yuri pops up. _"Because either way, if he doesn't get help, Yuzu will never kiss that face again if he keeps stepping on rakes."_

While they talk about Ruri helping Yuya, Ruri herself comes up to Yuya and helps him up. "Yuya. It's time for our lunch break. Do you want to eat with me?"

"Yeah sure I mean you're the only other person I know here." Yuya forces a smile something Yuzu notices.

The two sit down on a bench eating the lunches Yoko and Syuzo made for them respectfully. Half way through, Yuya breaks the silence between them. "So you seem to really enjoy charity work Ruri."

"I used to help out people all the time before when they asked. Everything was quite peaceful in Heartland so I want that feeling to return. Plus I hate seeing others suffer so I want to help out as much as possible." Ruri tells him.

"Sounds like you were built to do charities."

"I guess you could say that. Really whenever I do something good or nice for people, I just feel happy. I don't even remember a time when I was angry or hated someone. No, that's not true. There was one moment, and I'm positive you can guess what I'm talking about, but even then I was angry Academy wouldn't stop. I didn't want to destroy them like Shun."

"Sounds like Yuto's a lucky guy being with you. Just don't change too much Ruri since the world is a messed up place and it needs nice people like you in it."

Ruri smiles at his compliment though Yuzu appears to talk to her. _"You need to ask him for me. I know Yuya, and this isn't something he should be handling at least by himself."_

"Ok I will." Ruri replies.

"You will what?" Yuya overhears.

"Yuzu feels concerned about you. She says she noticed that you were forcing a smile."

Yuya shows a depressed expression. He doesn't want to feel bad. In fact, he's mentally kicking himself that he's ruining his and Ruri's day with his mood, which sadly makes him feel more depressed. "So Yuzu noticed that I'm feeling down now, huh?"

"I'm well aware of how Yusho's disappearance 3 years ago hurt you to the point you try to hide your sadness and force a smile."

"It's not just that." Yuya elaborates. "When the pendulum cards and dimensional war started, I feel like I got worse. I tried to make things right but problems kept popping up including my own demons and it kept crushing me."

Yuya covers up his eyes with his goggles before continuing. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I want to be like my father and make the crowds feel joy. However, a part of me feels like if something goes wrong then I can't do it."

After he finishes pouring his heart out, Ruri surprises Yuya with a hug while she cries. "Yuya. I don't have all the answers so I doubt whatever's bothering you will go away by tomorrow, but I know this, you're shouldering too much. There are so many who care about you like Yusho, your mother, Yuto, Yuzu, your friends, and all the other counterparts. Including me. If you want to talk to anyone, you can talk to me or your other counterparts."

Yuya returns the hug feeling warmth and happiness. He decides to break things with a little joke. "Ruri. If it's all right can I trade the counterparts I have for the ones you have because I feel they're better company when talking about problems."

Ruri just giggles though she feels happy he's back to joking around. "While I like helping I don't think I want my boyfriend in my head."

"Yeah that would be awkward."

"So Yuya, what made you feel down? I know it's touchy right now after our talk but I would like to avoid it in the future."

"Well it's silly in retrospect. Really I shouldn't have felt it. I thought you were really good at helping with the park and I am so bad at even handling a shovel that I felt useless."

"Well don't worry. Everyone has something their good at and they're not. I can plant flowers because I used to do that as a little girl but I can't move heavy rocks. Actually, if you think about it, you could probably come up with someway to help."

"Some way to help." Yuya starts thinking when he turns his head at a patch of land covered in litter. Seeing this, Yuya gets a light bulb and smiles. Yuya scarves down the rest of his lunch and runs off.

"Yuya. Where are you going?" Ruri asks.

"To ask the foreman if I can do something and get some garbage bags." Yuya tells her as he runs off.

Yuya got his permission and trash bags so he can put his idea into action. He pulls out his duel disk and sets Timegazer Magician and Stargazer Magician on the pendulum scales and pendulum summons Hip Hippo to ride, Partnaga, Monkeyboard, Dag Daggerman, and Cheermole. The summoned Performapals all have bags for litter and Yuya leads them through the ground to pick up the trash. Yuya uses his trash picker while riding Hip Hippo to collect his own while his other monsters put the their share away in a showy manner. The workers including Ruri just watch as they see a bunch of cartoon characters clean up the park area. It's such an unusual sight that soon a crowd appears to watch.

Ten minutes later, Yuya and his monsters have cleaned up the trash holding their full bags. Some volunteers take the bags and compliment Yuya for his creative way of cleaning up. After that, the solid vision vanishes, but he hears the crowd of people outside demanding to see more. Figuring that showing off more duel monsters could cause more to come to the park, Yuya runs up to Ruri.

"Hey Ruri. I got a way we can help out with something we're both good at."

Appearing is an animated title card of an old west saloon door and on it are the words "Tell Me Melissa". Those move away to reveal Melissa Claire talking in front of a camera.

"Hello everyone. As part of the changes being made to make the relation between Tops and Commons better, a new park is being built right where I am and as you can see there's a crowd gathering here. Most of them are children from both Tops and Commons. But a new slide isn't what's attracting the kids of different classes. Nope, it was Yuya Sakaki again only this time he cleaned up a big section of the future park using just dueling. Sadly, we missed it but we are about to witness a duel involving Yuya and some girl. Wait is that Yuzu Hiragi?"

Yuya and Ruri mostly ignore Melissa Claire's broadcast and ready to duel.

"You ready to start Yuya?" Ruri asks.

"Not yet. There's one thing we have do together first." Yuya says.

"Oh I know what you mean. That sounds fun."

"Duelist locked in battle!"

"Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters."

"They storm the field."

"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling."

"Action. Duel!"

Yuya: 4000 life points.

Ruri: 4000 life points.

With the Action Field Cross Over active, the Action Cards properly scattered, and their life points set, Yuya decides to start the duel.

"First I'll summon Performapal Hip Hippo."

Performapal Hip Hippo. 3. Earth. Beast/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 800.

As Hip Hippo lifts his top hat to greet Ruri, Yuya gets on it. "Now time to see an evolution that would make Darwin spin because my hippo will turn into a dragon. First, since I control a non-pendulum Performapal, I can special summon Performapal Companion Hippo." Appearing next to Hip Hippo is an orange hippo with its eyes close and wearing similar attire.

Performapal Companion Hippo. 3. Earth. Beast/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 800.

"Now I use Hip Hippo's effect to tribute summon this turn for a level 7 or higher monster so I tribute both my hippos to normal summon Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" Yuya's two hippos turn into balls of light but then Odd-Eyes appears from them with Yuya riding on his back from the summoning.

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. 7. Dark. Dragon/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"With Odd-Eyes on the field I end my turn."

"Well now it's my turn to start. Draw!" Ruri begins. "First I summon Lyrilusc – Larimar Thrush."

Lyrilusc – Larimar Thrush. 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 0.

"Since I now control a winged-beast monster, I can special summon Sapphire Swallow and Cobalt Sparrow."

Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow. 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 0.

Lyrilusc – Cobalt Sparrow. 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 100.

"Since Cobalt Sparrow's special summoned, I get to add Beryl Broadbill to my hand. Then I play Small Bird Gather. When I special summon a level 1 Wind winged-beast monster, I can special summon from my hand, deck, or graveyard 2 more monsters that share a name with it though their effects are negated. I pick Cobalt Sparrow and summon 2 more."

"Now Yuya, my birds will take flight. Overlay! Birds with beautiful wings! Gather on the battlefield and take brilliant flight! Xyz summon! Rank 1! Lyrilusc – Assembly Nightingale!"

Lyrilusc – Assembly Nightingale. 1 Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0. Overlay Units: 5.

"Well viewers. It looks like the girl Yuya Sakaki's dueling uses that xyz summoning method we saw at the previous Friendship Cup from the Lancers." Melissa Claire commentates. "But it doesn't have any attack points."

The crowd is amazed by the beauty of Ruri's monster but also confused by how weak it is. Ruri elaborates on its abilities. "Now for Assembly Nightingale's effect. For every overlay unit on her, she gains 200 attack points. Also not only can she attack directly but she can attack a number times equal to the number of overlay units on her."

Lyrilusc – Assembly Nightingale. Attack: 1000.

"A 1000 attack points with 5 direct attacks that's 5000 damage!" Yuya calculates that he'll lose. Ruri orders Assembly Nightingale to begin its barrage. Yuya jumps off Odd-Eyes to get on the platforms but gets hit.

Yuya: 3000 life points.

Yuya and Ruri jump around on the floating platforms with Assembly Nightingale chasing Yuya. He spots an action card, but gets hit again from being distracted from seeing it and loses more life points.

Yuya: 2000 life points.

Assembly Nightingale turns around for another attack but is completely stopped by a smokescreen. In fact, Ruri's duel disk says her battle phase just ended.

"Action Magic Big Escape. The battle phase now ends." Yuya says when the smoke clears.

"Then I'll end my turn." Ruri says.

"My turn. Draw. With Scale 2 Dragoncaller Magician and Scale 8 Performapal Odd-Eyes X-Y-Zebra, I set the pendulum scale. With this, I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 3-7. Pendulum Summon! Appear Dharma-Eye Magician!"

Yuya's scales: 2-8.

Dharma-Eye Magician. 7. Light. Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 2500.

Yuya's scales have Dragoncaller Magician and a cartoon zebra with a top hat and star paint on its eyes floating over him and have just summoned another magician with radiant armor.

"Now since I have two level 7 pendulum monsters, I can overlay them! Go! Being of shadows that just appeared from nowhere! Give a surprise performance no one can forget. Xyz summon! Rank 7! Performapal Mystery Magician!" Yuya's newest monster is a magician wearing obsidian clothes that cover up all but the eyes with pure white stars all over it.

Performapal Mystery Magician. 7. Dark. Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2900. Defense: 2300. Overlay Units: 2.

"Now I activate Performapal Odd-Eyes X-Y-Zebra's pendulum effect. When I summon a monster using a dragon-type Odd-Eyes Monster as a material, all my opponent's monsters will have their effects negated this turn. Meaning that the effects it gained from Larimar Thrush and Cobalt Sparrow to prevent it from being targeted or destroyed are gone, and its attack is 0. Now Performapal Mystery Magician attack! Unknown Shadow Act!"

The magician releases darkness from its wand and engulfs Ruri's bird woman. The darkness burst like a large firework and Ruri loses much of her life points.

Ruri: 1100 life points.

"That's an impressive monster. So I'll summon my newest one too." Ruri states holding a monster card in her hand. "I discard Beryl Broadbill to activate a Rank-Up Magic card from my hand or graveyard. I choose from my hand Rank-Up Magic: Lyrilusc Duet Song. Now I special summon Assembling Nightingale to rank her up. Flock that flew through a new power! Soar by to reveal your beautiful new feathers! Rank-Up xyz change! Rank 2! Sing a new power song! Lyrilusc – Mixture Chat!"

Ruri's newest monster is a grey skinned woman covered with yellow, blue, and red feathers.

Lyrilusc – Mixture Chat. 2. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 500. Defense: 500. Overlay Units: 1.

Ruri continues with her Rank-Up Magic's effect to add all Lyrilusc monsters to the just summoned monster since it's a Lyrilusc xyz monster. Now Mixture Chat has six overlay units. With nothing else left to do, Yuya ends his turn.

Ruri draws but Yuya interrupts her turn. "Before you do anything Ruri, I activate Mystery Magician's effect. I remove an overlay unit so that all face up monsters and pendulum cards I control can't be destroyed or have their effects negated this turn. Plus any battle damage I take involving my monsters will be reduced to 0 as well. Also, all pendulum monsters as overlay units removed get sent to the extra deck thanks to Mystery Magician's effect."

"So I can't destroy any of your cards this turn." Ruri says. "Doesn't matter that wasn't what I was aiming for. I activate Mixture Chat's effect. Once per turn, I can deal 300 damage to my opponent for each overlay unit attached to it. She has 6 so you'll take 1800 damage. Go Lyrical Gust."

A powerful wind blows from Mixture Chat's wings. Yuya tries looking for an action card but the blast of wind is too strong and he gets blown off to another platform.

Yuya: 200 life points.

"Sorry Yuya. Are you ok?" Ruri shouts with concern.

"I'm fine, Rin." Yuya mindlessly state in his daze.

"Close enough. With Mixture Chat's effect, whenever my opponent takes damage, it gains attack equal to that damage. I place a card face down and end my turn."

Lyrilusc – Mixture Chat. Attack: 2300.

Yuya recomposes himself and draws. "First I pendulum summon. Come back Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Now I use Dragoncaller Magician's pendulum effect to make Performapal Mystery Magician a dragon-type."

Performapal Mystery Magician. Dragon/Xyz/Effect.

"Now I play the magic card Magician's Pendulum Change. I take a Magician card from my pendulum zone and shuffle it into my deck then I add another Magician pendulum monster from my deck or extra deck with a different name and place it in that pendulum zone. I switch Dragoncaller Magician with Xiangke Magician from my deck."

Yuya's scales: 3-8.

"Now I activate Xiangke Magician's pendulum effect to give a monster a level equal to its rank. So Performapal Mystery Magician is now a level 7 dragon-type xyz monster."

"You mean?" Ruri's eyes widen.

"Yes." Yuya smiles. "I overl–."

"Before you do anything." Ruri interrupts ruining Yuya's moment. "I remove an overlay unit from Mixture Chat so that this turn my monster can't be affected by your card effects. You may continue."

"As I was saying, I overlay Performapal Mystery Magician and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon! Dragon with dual colored eyes resurrect from the deep darkness. With the flame of rage, incinerate all on the earth! Xyz summon! Rank 7! The blazing dragon called by calamity! Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon!"

Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon. 7. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500. Overlay Units: 3.

Appearing on the field is Yuya's red monstrous dragon with blazing wings. The entire crowd even Melissa is stunned silent from seeing the large beast up close. Ruri recalls seeing the enormous dragon when she was under control by the parasite, but for some reason it seems less scary. Despite the name, there's no anger coming from the dragon. In fact, Ruri looks at Yuya and smiles because Yuya's perfectly calm. No berserk attitude or anything, he's completely in control. Ruri's so happy; she forgets that dragon is serious business.

"Now X-Y-Zebra's pendulum effect would activate but your monster can't be effected by it or Raging Dragon so I remove an overlay unit from Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon to destroy as many cards on your side of the field and it'll gain 200 for each one destroyed. The only one I can destroy is your face down card."

Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon. Attack: 3200.

"Now Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon attack! Destruction Burst of Rage!" The red dragon fires a burst of destruction that completely incinerates Mixture Chat. Though it later reforms on her pendulum scale floating above a 9. The flaming blasts are so intense, Ruri had to use the rollerboots to move quickly across the platforms.

Ruri: 200 life points.

Yuya sees Ruri lying face first on a platform and worries. "Ruri. Tell me you're ok."

"I'm fine. By the way, Yuto, how's my tan." Ruri confusingly says from her exhaustion.

"She's ok. Anyway now that we're tied up, things will come to an end because Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon can attack a second time. Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon attack a second time."

"I was going to use this to negate an attack but it works fine in the graveyard." Ruri gets up to banish the trap card Yuya just destroyed to activate. "I banish Lyrilusc – Narrow Path Way. When banished from my graveyard, the battle phase ends so Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon can't attack."

"I got nothing else to do so I'll end my turn."

"My turn and draw." Ruri sees she drew Sapphire Swallow and looks at Mixture Chat in her pendulum zone. "Sorry Yuya our duel will end anti-climatically. I summon Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow."

"What are doing Ruri?"

"Now I activate the pendulum effect of Mixture Chat. Once per turn, I deal 300 damage to my opponent for each Wind winged-beast-type monster I control so you'll take 300 damage."

Yuya goes into a panic looking for an action card but he's too late as a light puff of wind hits him and takes out what little life points he has left.

Yuya: 0 life points. Ruri wins.

The solid vision vanishes and Yuya and Ruri get on the ground. They turn to wave at the crowd cheering for them. The kids talk about how they want some xyz monsters too with some talking about how even though Yuya loss, his monsters looked amazing. The girls are enamored by how pretty Ruri's Lyrilusc monsters were. Melissa Claire wraps up commentating and seems like she wants to interview Yuya and Ruri, but they disappeared.

The two are hiding behind some trees to avoid the press and such while giggling. Yuya grabbed Ruri's hand so he could lead her away but he forgot to let go.

"You know I really loved that duel, Ruri." Yuya turns to her.

"Thanks Yuya. It was one of the funnest duels I've been in." Ruri compliments. Ruri turns to Yuya smiling. "Yuya. No matter how much you mentally beat yourself up, I want you to know you're the funniest and most entertaining guy I've met."

"And you're the cheeriest and most generous girl I've met Ruri." Yuya returns the compliment. The two start staring and smiling at each other until they both realize what they're doing and that they're still holding hands. Their faces become horrified.

"Ruri."

"Yes, Yuya."

"Do you think we're getting too close?"

With that they both start pushing away from each other apologizing and begging their respective boyfriend/girlfriend to forgive them.

Yuto and Yuzu's stern responses are. _"This better not happen again."_


	9. Yugo & Yuzu

Outside, Yuzu is getting Shooting Star ready for the day. It took her a lot to convince her dad to let her ride on it even telling him how she actually driven one before. Though she purposely left out the part of her being flung into a building. Soon another D-Wheel pulled up and the rider stepped off.

"Yuzu!" Yugo lunges forward at a visibly annoyed Yuzu. She pulls out her paper fan and strikes Yugo on the head. Only this time, Yugo succeeds in hugging her tight. Yuzu looks at annoyance that she couldn't hit Yugo because of his helmet.

"Yuzu! I'm so happy you're back! I'm glad you're still alive!"

"Yes I'm happy too, Yugo. Now get off me!" Yuzu pushes him off her and the clingy synchro counterpart gets up to apologize.

"Sorry. So are you ready to go Yuzu?" Yugo heads back to his D-Wheel.

"As long as you are, I'm fine." Yuzu puts on her helmet and starts her D-Wheel.

The two rev up their D-Wheels and ride off. Before they reach the portal to the xyz dimension, they see Leo Corp. guards standing in front of them with Reiji and Himika holding baby Reira. Yugo stops though Yuzu starts panicking as she forgot how to stop. If it weren't for Rin telling her what to, Yuzu would have almost hit Reiji since she stopped a few inches in front of him. Surprisingly, or unsurprising depending on your view, Reiji didn't flinch or move from his spot.

"Ah. You two are here. I didn't expect both of you to have D-Wheels, but it'll work." Reiji nonchalantly says.

"I'm really sorry Reiji, but what are you doing here at the portal hub?" Yuzu asks.

"When you called me earlier saying that you and Yugo would be going to the xyz dimension, I figure Yugo would be perfect for some business I have with the xyz dimension."

Reiji walks to Yugo, who just pulled up, and handed him a metal box. "This box contains special parts that will help speed up the restoration process. Take this to the head of the repair workers. There's a digital map of where to go on the box and the name of the person in charge."

"Hey wait." Yugo questions all of this. "Why do I have to take this? Actually, why are you lumping your work on us?"

"I agree with Yugo. Why not get some lackey to deliver those instead of two kids trying to enjoy their day." Yuzu adds to the conversation.

"I don't think you understand what position my son is in." Himika enters the conversation. "If you've seen how the other dimensions are improving it's because Reiji is using all of his connections, intellect, and power from the Leo Corp. to accomplish this. Plus he's working on relations on all four since they're aware of the others. Even if it seems odd, everything he does helps a dimension."

"Because of my workload, I can't just have something sent the proper way so I'm going to let you two do it. If you still refuse, I should add if you deliver those, Heartland's electricity and power will return in a couple of days and make things easier for everyone. As opposed to doing things properly where it could take a couple of weeks." Reiji's explanation including the last part makes the two counterparts sigh in defeat as they agree to deliver the parts. With the parts put on the side of Ringo, the guards move away from the portal so Yuzu and Yugo can ride and crossover.

When they enter the xyz dimension, they stop and Yuzu gets off to remove her helmet and look at the place. She's never seen the xyz dimension with her own eyes. It's cleaned up and there are professionals repairing everything, but the scars of war are still noticeable even to Yuzu.

" _It's still damaged, but it's getting better."_ Ruri tries to be hopeful.

"True it's not as bad as what I saw from your eyes. It's just that this feels like a reminder of before." Yuzu then slaps her own face with both hands to snap out of her mood. "I shouldn't be thinking that. The worse was stopped and we're getting better. I should be happy and help out if needed."

" _That's good to hear from you. Plus it means you don't have to mope all day."_ Serena says. Yuzu wants to responds but seeing two people at the distance distracts her.

Yugo dealt with the box Reiji gave them by turning on the hologram that shows the digital map. "Ok. Now I just got to put this is my GPS."

Yugo inputs where to go in the D-Wheel's GPS. He touches a part of the screen and the computer in the D-Wheel draws a red line from where he is to moving around on the road until it hits the destination point. After that, the screen shows some numbers that tells the over all distance and estimated time of arrival.

Yugo looks over this and starts thinking out loud. "The power plant is on the opposite side of Heartland from where we are and outside the city. The GPS says it'll take 50 minutes but it probably didn't factor in that there's zero traffic. Actually even if the xyz dimension has satellites that tell you about the traffic and road works, this thing probably calculated the time by stuff like the speed limit. Hey, GPS. I don't follow the speed limit. I say what the speed limit is."

Like always, the other dragon boys watch Yugo and Yuri just makes a comment to Yuto and Yuya. _"He better not try to jump a broken bridge on that motorcycle."_

"Hey Yugo." Yuzu shouts to Yugo. "I think I see Shun so I'm going to go where he is. Come on."

"Hey wait, let me get ready." Yugo says.

Yuzu rides off with Yugo right behind as she rides to Shun. The two reach where he is and he's with Kaito talking about stuff until they notice the two. Yuzu stops properly this time and takes off her helmet.

"Yuzu." Shun says.

"That's the girl who has Ruri in her." Kaito says as that's how he knows Yuzu.

"Hello Shun. I just wanted to see a familiar face. I'm kind of busy with an errand for Reiji at the moment." Yuzu says.

"Reiji. What exactly does he want?"

"We're delivery people." Yugo comments. "He wants us to deliver this box of parts or something to, uh, Dr. Faker. Is that a real name?"

After hearing Yugo read the label to which the parts are for, Kaito speaks up. "Dr. Faker is my father who's been working on the power plant to restore power. The problem is that he can't get certain parts since they were destroyed during the invasion."

"So that's why Reiji had to push this on us." Yuzu notes before turning to Kaito. "By the way, who are you?

"I'm Kaito Tenjo, a pro duelist in Heartland. Is Ruri really inside you and you can switch with her." Kaito says when he starts asking Yuzu.

"Yes Ruri is in my mind. She says hi to both of you by the way. I can switch with her but we're trying something to split ourselves."

"I'm aware of that since Shun told me. It's still surprising to me." Kaito then looks at Yugo typing in the destination in Yuzu's GPS. "Is he the one who has Yuto?"

"Yes this is Yugo from the synchro dimension. Don't worry with our D-Wheels we should have these parts delivered in no time."

After Yuzu tells goodbye to them and Yugo informs her that he put the destination in her D-Wheel, the two ride off to go to the power plant. Shun and Kaito look at each other.

"Those D-Wheels really as fast as they claim?" Kaito asks.

"They are. I rode one before and it can go incredibly fast. Though from what I can tell, they work better on long, empty stretches of roads. Not a city that's being repaired." Shun tells his honest opinion.

"You're worried about them, aren't you." 

"A little. They aren't Yuto and Ruri but they are a part of them." 

"Want to follow them? You know to make sure they deliver those parts to my father."

Shun gives a small smile. "Might as well. We have no enemies to fight and what we can do to help has became limited so might as well make sure they don't goof off."

The two tail the riding duelist by riding on the solid vision of Shun's Rise Falcon.

Meanwhile, Yugo and Yuzu ride on the path the computers on their D-Wheel's provide for directions. However, Yuzu notices that Yugo is steadily going faster. "Yugo slow down. You're going too fast."

"That's the point. We got a city with no traffic so I want to ride as fast as I can. You should too." Yugo yells.

"No way, I don't want to crash, and remember, I got flung into a building last time that happened." Yuzu reminds the speed demon.

"What did you say Yuzu? I wasn't listening." Yugo admits while looking back at Yuzu.

"Argh! I said–." Yuzu starts getting angry until she looks ahead at what's rising from the road. "–Yugo! Look out!"

Yugo looks ahead and sees workers on the road getting ready to do their work. Despite his reckless speed, Yugo's motorcycle skills and experience helps him by skidding on the side and then rides forward into another road adjacent to the one he was on. Yuzu turns to follow him and they both stop on the side.

"Where did those guys come from!?" Yugo yells out.

Yuzu wants to hit him with her fan, but he's still wearing his helmet. Instead Rin pops up and tells her to look at the GPS. "Yugo. The path just changed because the workers are moving around to do their repairs."

"What! You mean I can't go where ever I want."

"You're suppose to go to the power plant and don't go too fast!"

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm a riding duelist. I live to experience speed and the feeling of being a part of the rushing wind. It's the ultimate form of freedom."

Yuzu just responds to his passionate speech with a blank stare. Ruri and Serena also feel confused by what he said, except for Rin who blushes from his words.

"Ugh. I want to ride through the town fast! Is that too much?" Yugo shouts from frustration.

"Yes. Yes it is." Yuzu responds. "Look let's go deliver the parts so we can enjoy are day without any reckless endangerment."

As she slowly rides off to get back on the path, Yugo just yells. "When it's my day again, we're going to the synchro dimension!" Then he follows after her.

Fifteen minutes have passed with Yuzu and Yugo riding. During that time, Yugo starts feeling complete boredom. He's riding around but he's not doing any big tricks or going as fast as his D-Wheel wants. The fact that they aren't even halfway through was torturing him since the ride feels so monotonous.

Eventually he figures out a way to kill the boredom and rides right next to Yuzu to tell her. "Hey Yuzu. Let's have our duel now."

"Eh. Right now." Yuzu says in shock.

"Come one. It's been a while since I had a riding duel. Come on you did it twice before. Please."

Yuzu thinks about it and a part of her, probably Rin, decides that it could be fun. "Alright let's duel."

"Awesome. First one to make the next turn goes first." After saying that, Yugo greatly increases forward to the turn. Yuzu also goes faster but not too much. Because she wasn't gunning it like Yugo, he makes the turn and is ready to start.

"Huh. How come we didn't do that action duel chant and action cards fell from the sky?" Yugo wonders.

"I want to say it's because you're impatient, but the real reason is that an action field is a stationary place. In order to make one like at the Friendship Cup where it's everywhere we go would require a large field generator." Yuzu explains.

"What! Man, I really wanted to do that chant." Yugo pouts before quickly getting over it. "Oh well this is just as good. Riding Duel. Acceleration!"

Yugo: 4000 life points.

Yuzu: 4000 life points.

Yugo makes his play. "I made the turn so I'm going first, Yuzu. First, I summon Tri-Eyed Dice then I'm able to special summon Speedroid Taketomborg."

Speedroid Tri-Eyed Dice. Level: 3. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 300. Defense: 1500.

Speedroid Taketomborg. Level: 3. Wind. Machine/Effect. Attack: 600. Defense: 1200.

"Now I synchro summon. Magical sword with the form of a cross. Use your power to rend all enemies. Synchro summon! Level 6! Hi-Speedroid Kendama!"

Hi-Speedroid Kendama. Level: 6. Wind. Machine/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2200. Defense: 1600.

"I place two cards face down and I banish Speedroid Taketomborg from my graveyard so Kendama can inflict 500 damage to you." Yuzu gets struck by a blast from his synchro monster but she brushes it off.

Yuzu: 3500 life points.

"With that I end my turn." Yugo keeps speeding up following the path on the GPS even whenever it suddenly changes. Yuzu forgets about the fact that work is being done on the city and speeds up to catch him. She draws and begins her turn.

"Ok I summon Counterpoint the Melodious Diva."

Counterpoint the Melodious Diva. Level: 4. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1900.

"When Counterpoint is the only card I control, I can tribute her to add 2 Melodious monsters from my deck to my hand. And with these two, I set the scale. With Scale 1, Allegro the Melodious Diva, and Scale 8, Adagio the Melodious Diva, I set the pendulum scales." Appearing in the pillars of light are Yuzu's two new pendulum monsters. Over the 1 is an upbeat woman with red hair and a yellow ballet dress while over the 8, is a somber woman with blue hair and a purple ballet dress.

Yuzu's scales: 1-8.

"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-7. Pendulum summon! Appear, Glee the Melodious Diva, Tuning the Melodious Diva, and making the stage is Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert.

Glee the Melodious Diva. Level: 3. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1300. Defense: 1000.

Tuning the Melodious Diva. Level: 2. Light. Fairy/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 700.

Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

After summoning her monsters, Yuzu first activates the effect of Tuning, the Melodious monster with green skin and hair and a dress with a metronome theme. "I activate Tuning the Melodious Diva's effect to increase her level up to the number of Melodious monsters I control so I'll increase it twice to a level 4."

Tuning the Melodious Diva. Level: 4.

"Now I'll tune Tuning with Glee. Oh and heads up, if Glee is used as material or a tribute for the summoning of a Melodious monster that monster will gain 500 attack points. Now for my synchro summoning. One who controls all the notes we play bring many together a fascinating show! Synchro summon! Level 7! Write the victory song! Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble!

Appearing right next to Yuzu is a woman with green hair with a yellow dress decorated with pink and blue flowers.

Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Synchro/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2600 (now 3100). Defense: 2100.

"Now to battle. I attack Hi-Speedroid Kendama with Bloom Composer first." Bloom Composer sings to release a shockwave but it's completely stopped by Yugo banishing Tri-Eyed Dice to negate the attack. Yuzu follows up with Bloom Lead attacking and destroying Kendama. With Bloom Lead's effect, Yugo takes damage equal to Kendama's attack.

Yugo's life points: 1500.

"That's a lot but it's what I need." Yugo tells her. "Trap card activate. Ro-Speed-Bo. When I take at least 2000 damage this turn, I can draw until I have 5 cards in my hand but I have to discard all cards that aren't Speedroid cards. Now I'll draw." Yugo draws 4 cards to get 5. He discards One for One.

"Well that was unexpected." Yuzu notes before finishing. "I set a card and end my turn."

"My turn. Draw. With scale 1, Speedroid Marble Ring, and scale 8, Speedroid Domino Butterfly, I set the pendulum scales. Now I can simultaneously summon level 2-7 monsters though I can only summon wind monsters due to their effects." Over the 8 is Domino Butterfly and over the 1 is Marble Ring, a small blue robot with a circular head and ring of marbles orbiting it.

Yugo's scales: 1-8.

"Now I use Domino Butterfly's effect to discard Speedroid Den Den Daiko Duke to add my banished Taketomborg to my hand. Now I pendulum summon! Appear, Speedroid Passing Rider and Speedroid Taketomborg."

Speedroid Passing Rider. Level: 5. Wind. Machine/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2200. Defense: 2000.

"Now I tribute Taketomborg to special summon from my deck Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice."

Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice. Level: 2. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 500. Defense: 500.

"Now I tune them together. Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro summon! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 7. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

Before Yugo could continue, Yuzu intervenes. "Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble's effect activates. Once during either player's turn when my opponent summons a monster from the extra deck, Bloom Composer negates its effects and it can't attack as long as it is on the field. Also, card effects can't be activated in response to this. Fragrance of Rewrite." Bloom Composer spins around while singing and the notes stick to Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, who can't fight back.

Yugo smiles a bit. "Not bad Yuzu, but I'm not done yet. I summon Speedroid Double Yoyo. When it's normal summoned, it special summons Speedroid Den Den Daiko Duke."

Speedroid Double Yoyo. Level: 4. Wind. Machine/Effect. Attack: 1400. Defense: 1400.

Speedroid Den Den Daiko Duke. Level: 3. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000.

"Now I synchro summon with them." Yugo declares.

"Is this going to be a new monster?" Yuzu asks herself.

"Shining wings, deliver divine speed and illuminate Heaven and Earth! Synchro summon! Level 7! Clear Wing Fast Dragon!"

Clear Wing Fast Dragon. Level: 7. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"I use Fast Dragon's effect to reduce Bloom Composer's attack to 0 and negate its effect. Now Clear Wing Synchro Dragon attack so go. Spinstorm Sky Strike!"

" _Hey Yuzu. Why aren't you activating Adagio's pendulum effect to negate a Melodious's destruction by battle?"_ Serena comments on Yuzu's in action.

"Because Bloom Composer is a pendulum monster so it won't really be destroyed. Plus I have a plan." Yuzu replies.

Yugo's Synchro Dragon attacks and destroys Yuzu's new synchro monster, however, Yuzu responds accordingly with a trap card.

Yuzu's life points: 1000.

"I activate Melodious Shout. When a Melodious monster is destroyed the monster that destroyed it gets returned to the hand or in this case the extra deck." Clear Wing Synchro Dragon disappears and returns to Yugo's extra deck.

Watching from above is Shun and Kaito. Yuzu and Yugo become so engrossed in their duel and so focused on the road, they haven't seen them.

"Looks like their duel is coming close and they have some unknown cards." Kaito says.

"Apparently when Ruri and Yuto's counterparts duel their decks become altered. Yuto could actually fusion summon in one of these duels." Shun says.

"Yuto. Fusion. Looks like I should expect a lot of unexpected moments with them."

"You should. In fact, do you want to bet some cards to see who will win?"

Kaito smirks. "You know what. I will. I pick the Yuzu girl since she seems to have some good control."

"Then I'll take Yugo. He's got determination."

Yugo ends his turn and Yuzu starts by drawing her card.

"I pendulum summon Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble." Yuzu brings back her synchro/pendulum monster with its original attack and effects restored.

"Don't think it'll keep working. Clear Wing Fast Dragon can activate its effect during either players turn."

"Except at this moment. Allegro the Melodious Diva's pendulum effect makes it so that Melodious monsters I control can't be affected by card effects on the turn they were special summoned from the extra deck."

Yuzu prepares to finish the duel. "With Adagio the Melodious Diva's pendulum effect, I can prevent a Melodious monster from being destroyed by battle once per turn. So I'll attack your Fast Wing with Bloom Lead. She won't be destroyed and when Bloom Lead destroys a special summoned monster, you'll take damage equal to its attack points. Now, Spring Chorus."

Bloom Lead is ready to release a shockwave from her voice but Yugo activates his other face down card. "Go! Re-Dyce-Cle. With this card I special summon Den Den Daiko Duke from my graveyard then I roll a dice and the number it lands on will be his new level. Now dice roll." The card creates a dice that does roll around and it lands on 1.

Speedroid Den Den Daiko Duke. Level: 1.

"Alright. Just what I wanted. Now I banish Re-Dyce-Cle so that I can immediately synchro summon with Den Den Daiko Duke and Clear Wing Fast Dragon and Fast Dragon goes to my extra deck since it's a pendulum monster. Shine the wings that store the holy light, and strike down your enemies with its radiance! Synchro summon! Level 8! Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 8. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500.

"I activate Bloom Composer's effect to negate Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon's effect and to make it unable to attack. Since my original target is gone, I won't attack and instead, end my turn with a face down.

"My turn. Draw. Alright I pendulum summon to bring back Clear Wing Fast Dragon and Speedroid Passing Rider."

"Bloom Composer negates Clear Wing Fast Dragon's effect and it can't attack as long as she's on the field." Yuzu informs him.

"Which means now you can't use that effect again this turn. I banish Den Den Daiko Duke to special summon the level 2 tuner monster, Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice. Now with it, I tune it with Passing Rider to bring back Clear Wing Synchro Dragon." At that moment, three white dragons flew right next to Yugo all roaring with readiness.

Yugo continues by playing his magic card, Speed Recovery so he can special summon Hi-Speedroid Kendama from his graveyard. Yuzu tries to stop this by activating a counter trap, Captivating Voices. Since she controls a Melodious monster she can negate a magic or trap card and destroy it. However, Yugo uses the pendulum effect of Speedroid Marble Ring. Because every monster he controls are wind monsters and a magic or trap card was activated to affect a card's effect, he negates the card and resets it. With that, Speed Recovery goes through and he brings back Kendama.

"Now I activate Kendama's effect to banish a machine-type monster from my grave and deal 500 damage. But instead of letting it go through, I'll activate Clear Wing Synchro Dragon's effect to negate and destroy it so it'll gain Kendama's attack." Yugo's dragon completely destroys the monster he just brought back to give it a boost.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 4700.

"Now Clear Wing Synchro Dragon attack Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert."

Yugo's signature dragon flies toward Yuzu's monster all she can do is use Adagio's effect to negate the destruction but she'll still take the damage.

Yuzu: 0 life points. Yugo wins.

"Yes I won! Thanks for the riding duel Yuzu." Yugo cheers.

"My pleasure Yugo." Yuzu smiles. "Eh, we've been going THAT fast."

"Well it wouldn't be a riding duel with out incredible speed. So how much longer until we get there? Huh, only ten minutes! I can't wait that long. I'm speeding up."

"Yugo! Workers!"

After a few incidents that thankfully no one was hurt, Yugo and Yuzu were able to leave Heartland and quickly reach the power plant. They come to a stop and Yugo grabs the box so they complete Reiji's errand.

"Hey. Is anyone here Dr. Faker? We have something from the Leo Corp." Yugo yells to the workers. An older man in a long white coat and wild blonde hair comes out after hearing about the Leo Corp.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Faker. I suppose that's something for me." Dr. Faker asks.

"Yes sir. Reiji says the box contains parts that can really help speed up the recovery process." Yuzu says.

Dr. Faker takes the box and opens it up. After looking over the contents, he gives a big smile. "Oh thank you so much you two. These are what were missing. Soon Heartland's main electricity power will be completely restored by tomorrow at the latest."

"That's good. We don't have to rely on those generators now." Kaito says. He and Shun surprise everyone by showing up out of nowhere to them.

"Shun. Kaito. Where did you come from?" Yuzu asks followed by Yugo asking. "Do you two know a short cut or something?" 

"Actually we trailed you two so you wouldn't goof off. Also Kaito, you owe me some cards." Shun says.

"Whatever. Anyways can you two give us a ride back to the Resistance base?" Kaito asks.

"Don't you two have your own mode of transportation since you followed us?" Yuzu asks.

"Yes but I want to see what's so fascinating about these D-Wheels." Kaito admits.

"Well hop on and we'll show you." Yugo enthusiastically grabs Kaito, puts a helmet on him, and puts him on the back seat of Ringo. Shun rides on Yuzu's D-Wheel. After Kaito and his father say goodbye, the counterparts ride off quickly with their passengers.


	10. Yugo & Rin

Yugo's dueling style often relied on luck on many occasions and usually it comes through. Many consider him reckless but now they're starting to think he's just lucky. The proof is that after his day with Yuzu, his next day was right after that. But what makes this one really special for him is that he'll be spending it with Rin. The idea of spending the whole day with her makes him excited that in the morning he tries to get ready by doing everything at once.

" _Yugo can you please slow down and stop."_ Yuya says.

"Con't I neend ta git rehday fur my dah woth Ren." Yugo mutters with a toothbrush in his mouth while toweling his wet hair and his riding suit halfway up.

" _I'm going to say you need to get ready for my day with Rin. Though I doubt you can get ready if you're doing three things as fast as possible. At once."_ Yuto brings up. His point is pushed home forward when Yugo stumbled putting on his riding suit and hits the wall.

" _You know I thought that this would get old quick, but it's still funny no matter."_ Yuri laughs at Yugo's impatient antics.

"Ok. I'm ready. How do I look?" Yugo shows off his rushed look with his hair still wet, toothpaste on his mouth and his outfit not completely on and somehow gotten backwards.

" _Get ready again and do it properly!"_ Yuya, Yuto, and Yuri yell at him.

While Yugo takes his time to actually get ready, Rin is eating breakfast with Shuzo. He notices that Rin appears nervous and in a deep thought. "Ok Rin, will you tell me what's bothering you?"

"Huh. Nothing's bothering Mr. Hiragi." Rin tries to avoid the conversation.

"Really? Because the only people who keep poking their bacon with a fork for five minutes are the same who have something on their mind. Also you're not good at hiding your facial expressions."

"How did you figure it out?"

"I'm a father of a teenage girl. I can tell when something's wrong. By the way, the only options when a parent asks a child what's wrong with them are to talk about it or scream until I forget. And I should inform you, the latter doesn't work any more."

" _Darn it."_ Yuzu says.

"Well you see, I'll be spending the day with Yugo today and I don't really know what to do." Rin answers.

"Yugo? He's the one from the synchro dimension like you and rides on that motorcycle. Hey, I saw him hugging Yuzu yesterday. What was that about?" Shuzo starts feeling overprotective of his daughter from other boys.

"Yugo doesn't know what personal space is. Which is a part of the problem I'm having." Rin starts feeling embarrassed but recalls her day with Yuri so she decides to talk about her issues now instead of running from them. "You see Mr. Hiragi like with Yuya and Yuzu, Yugo and I knew each other since we were children. Probably more so than them since we grew up in the same orphanage and spent almost every waking moment together."

"Let me guess, you've developed feelings for him and you don't know if he'll respond."

"You're half right. I do love him and I know he feels the same way about me. He isn't discreet about it."

Shuzo just looks confused at this point. "So what's the problem? You like him. He likes you. I don't understand what's making you so anxious."

"The problem is that Yugo is a complete fool. He doesn't know anything about personal space, he often jumps to conclusions and makes assumptions like thinking people got his name wrong, he's a pervert, and worse of all he lacks focus."

"In other words, he's flawed." Shuzo just looks at Rin a little confused by Rin's complaints and tries to figure out if there's anything else. "Does he do anything to hurt others because I'm having trouble seeing why you don't want a relationship?"

"It's nothing serious like that. I guess I'm still a product of the City. You see competition and striving to be better than everyone was a big deal in the City. It also included love lives where it seems the best choice is someone perfect, successful, and all around great."

Hearing this, Shuzo could only respond one way. "Rin. That's completely ridiculous."

Rin could only hang her head in shame. It got worse when the other three bracelet girls throw their own thoughts.

" _You know if you expect a Mr. Perfect, you'll be quickly disappointed. I mean look at Yuya. He's caring and quite skilled, but he's not very book smart and sometimes he puts himself down."_ Yuzu says.

" _Yuto's great but the fact he can't even act normal around Shun when I'm around is kind of annoying. Actually very annoying."_ Ruri says.

" _Even I can tell you're reasons for not dating Yugo are ridiculous."_ Serena says.

"Fine I get it! I'm ignoring my feelings because of some flawed ideals from my home!" Rin shouts from frustration.

Shuzo rubs her head to comfort her. "Ok calm down. Just so you know, the issue isn't whether or not someone has flaws but rather the qualities you love about them out weigh any problems with them."

"I think I understand what you're saying. Thank you Mr. Hiragi."

"I'm always happy to help with any problem. Too bad I find that teens love to keep every problem a secret."

About 10 minutes later, Rin has Shooting Star ready to leave. After hearing Shuzo's advice and realizes that she was still influenced by the City's corruption, she knows what she has to do when she sees Yugo today. Speaking of, Rin hears his D-Wheel speeding toward the Hiragi house. The riding duelist turns his D-Wheel to skid to a halt and gets off removing his helmet. From there, Yugo starts his predictable behavior.

"RIN!"

Rin sees Yugo jump toward her so that he can hug her, but she surprises him by jumping forward into him and kissing him on the lips. When the synchro residents separate, Yugo's frozen from surprise. Rin decides to break him out of this by slapping him.

"Ow! Why did you do that Rin? No wait, why did you kiss me?" Yugo asks.

"Well I couldn't figure out how to tell you my feelings for you so I thought something like a kiss would do the job." Rin blushes.

"So wait. Does that mean you want to be my girlfriend?" This time Yugo's blushing.

"To be honest I didn't and the reason is really stupid, but I should've done that sooner. I mean you learned everything there is to know on how to build a D-Wheel from scratch and went to every dimension to find me."

"Well of course. I love you and you were in trouble."

"Yeah I knew you loved me. It was pretty obvious to everyone."

"So are we boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Rin tells him yes and gives him a big hug that Yugo returns. While they hold each other, Rin says something in Yugo's ear. "Now that were a couple Yugo, there's something I really want to do with you."

"What is it Rin?"

"Ride around in the City as fast as we can on our D-Wheels." Rin breaks off the hug to get her helmet.

"All right. I'm been so excited for this all day." Yugo says feeling pumped, as he gets ready on his D-Wheel.

The two ride off enjoying the feeling of speed. Yugo would occasionally look at Rin and just to admire her beauty, which made Rin giggle a little when she spots him. The other counterparts can't help but talk about this development.

" _Yes! I knew they would get together. I mean how could they not."_ Ruri cheers.

" _Yugo's clinginess. Though it's good Rin is being open with her feelings."_ Yuzu says.

" _If it's good how come they missed the turn to the Leo Corp.?"_ Serena points out.

" _Huh."_ Yuzu and Ruri look and see that Rin and Yugo did miss the turn. The girls told Rin about this.

"What. We missed the turn. Yugo we missed the turn to the Leo Corp." Yugo didn't hear Rin as he still feels a bit love drunk.

" _Hey Fusion. Didn't you hear her?"_ Yuri says.

" _You missed the turn and you're still not paying attention."_ Yuto scolds.

" _We get your happy to be dating the girl of your dreams, but you have to–WATCH OUT FOR THAT CAR!"_ Yuya says before yelling abouta parked car ahead of them. Fortunately, Yugo heard Yuya say that so he quickly turns his D-Wheel to the side to come to a stop.

"Maybe we should do the couple stuff when we aren't riding, Yugo." Rin suggests.

"Yeah, I agree. Plus when we get to the City, we better stay focused since the accidents there are far worse than what almost happen." Yugo laughs a bit. Hearing that makes the other six counterparts fear for their lives for the first time in a while.

The synchro couple crosses over and return to their home. They ride around and then turn to get on the highway where they can push Ringo and Shooting Star to their top speeds. Unlike before, Yugo and Rin are completely focused both on their riding but each other. Though their focus is more about how they can feel each other through the wind and speed. It's like they're completely in sync with their riding. So much in fact, that when Rin sees a sharp turn coming up, she looks at Yugo and gestures her head at it. Yugo notices the turn and without words, figures out what she means. They both grin and speed up further. While riding, they only say one statement together.

"Riding Duel Acceleration!"

Rin was the closest to the turn so she made it and therefore got the first turn. "I'll start things off Yugo by special summoning Wind Witch – Ice Bell through its effect. Now not only will you take 500 damage but since I summoned her this way, I can special summon Wind Witch – Glass Bell from my deck." With this Yugo takes 500 damage and Glass Bell appears.

Wind Witch – Ice Bell. Level: 3. Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000.

Wind Witch – Glass Bell. Level: 4. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 1500. Defense: 1500.

"Ugh. You know I find Ice Bell annoying." Yugo complains.

"I know but she's so adorable. She's kind of like you. Annoying but cute." Rin giggles.

"You think I'm cute." Yugo blushes but this causes Yuri to appear. _"Will you two stop. I will not die because of your flirting."_

"Now for my next play. I tune Ice Bell with Glass Bell to summon my monster. Midwinter wind make ice and snow my power and blow through! Synchro summon! Appear! Level 7! Wind Witch – Winter Bell!"

Wind Witch – Winter Bell. Level: 7. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.

"Now I activate Winter Bell's first effect. I pick Glass Bell in my graveyard so I can inflict 200 points of damage times its level so take 800 points of damage." A strong cold wind blows toward Yugo but a large paper fan with mechanical eyes appears on the field and makes the wind disappear.

Yugo explains. "I can negate any effect damage I would take by special summoning Speedroid Paper Fan."

Speedroid Paper Fan. Level: 3. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 1800.

"Then I'll use Winter Bell's other effect." Rin says. "I pick a Wind Witch on the field so I choose her. Now I can special summon a monster from my hand that has a lesser level than her. So I summon Wind Witch – Mirror Bell."

Wind Witch – Mirror Bell. Level: 4. Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1400.

Mirror Bell is a witch with pale blue hair and reflective clothing, and Rin explains its ability. "When Mirror Bell is summoned, I can deal 300 damage for each Wind Witch I control."

Yugo: 2900 life points.

"Then I summon Wind Witch – Snowflake Bell and tune them together. Ice crystals flying through the wind dazzle your enemies with rainbow light. Synchro summon! Level 6! Wind Witch – Prism Bell!"

Wind Witch – Prism Bell. Level: 6. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2300. Defense: 1500.

"I place a card facedown and end my turn. By the way Yugo, if you hold back on this duel, I'll be mad." Rin says while riding next to her two monsters.

"Don't worry. That won't happen. Now I draw." Yugo looks at the card and starts his plan. "First I play the magic card Spare Tire Run. Since I control a machine-type tuner monster, I can special summon two tire tokens but they can't be tuned expect with a machine-type."

Tire Tokens. Level: 1. Wind. Machine. Attack: 200. Defense: 200.

"Now I tune both of them with the machine-type Speedroid Paper Fan. Lively soul of swordplay. Synchro summon. Level 5. Hi-Speedroid Chanbara!"

Hi-Speedroid Chanbara. Level: 5. Wind. Machine/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 1000.

"Then I summon Speedroid Double Yo-yo. With its effect, I bring back Speedroid Paper Fan and tune them. Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 7. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"Now I banish Speedroid Paper Fan to increase the attack of all Wind monsters I control by 300 until the end of the turn. Now I'll attack Prism Bell with Chanbara, who gains 200 attack when it battles."

Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 2800.

Hi-Speedroid Chanbara. Attack: 2500.

"Wind Witch – Prism Bell reduces the attack of any monster it battles by 500 and inflicts 500 damage to the opponent." Rin points out. "But that's something you don't have to worry about."

"Correct. Clear Wing negates any level 5 or higher monster's effect and destroys it to boost it's own attack." Yugo uses his dragon's power to destroy the Wind Witch and gain its attack. Since Chanbara's attack target is gone, a replay occurs.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 5100.

"And that's why I set this. Continuous trap card. Witch's Cold Curse. When a monster my opponent controls that was summoned from the extra deck destroys a Wind Witch, that monster has its effects negated and it can't attack as long as this card is on the field." When Rin activates her trap, the synchro dragon gets hit by a gust of wind that encases it in ice.

"Then I'll just destroy your other monster." Yugo declares. "I attack Winter Bell with Chanbara and it gains 200 more attack." Hi-Speedroid Chanbara slashes through Winter Bell to destroy it.

Hi-Speedroid Chanbara. Attack: 2700.

Rin: 3700 life points.

"Now I can attack a second time with Chanbara." Yugo says.

"Are you sure about that Yugo?" Rin asks. "Because when a Wind synchro monster I control is destroyed by my opponent, Wind Witch – Prism Bell special summons itself from the graveyard."

Prism Bell appears from the graveyard and since Yugo can't negate its effect, he chooses to set two cards and ends his turn. With that his monsters lose their power boost from Paper Fan and Clear Wing loses his buff.

Hi-Speedroid Chanbara. Attack: 2400.

Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 2500.

Rin draws to start her turn. "I play Tuner's High. I discard Breeze Bell to summon from my deck Wind Witch – Flurry Bell." A child dressed in a white witch outfit riding a broom appears.

Wind Witch – Flurry Bell. Level: 2. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 700. Defense: 1000.

"Now I tune her with Wind Witch – Prism Bell. Flying through the chilled winds, a woman of clear crystals and ice will appear to all! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Ring your bell in the storm! Wind Witch – Cold Snap Bell!" Flying above Rin is a beautiful woman with long dark blue hair wearing a light blue witch outfit decorated with snowflakes. She's riding a large white bell also decorated with snowflakes.

Wind Witch – Cold Snap Bell. Level: 8. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2200.

"Now since I tuned Flurry Bell with a synchro monster, I draw a card. Then there's Cold Snap Bell's effect. Whenever she's summoned, you take 200 damage for each Wind monster in my graveyard."

"Wait. You have 8 so I'm going to take 1600 damage!" Yugo figures out.

"Yep. Cold Snap Bell strike Yugo with Cold Furry!" Rin orders with her witch blasting him with cold wind.

Yugo: 1300 life points.

After that, Rin attacks Chanbara. It gains 200 attack but it's not strong enough to defeat Cold Snap Bell.

Yugo: 1100 life points.

Since Chanbara was destroyed, Yugo adds a banished Speedroid monster to his hand so he adds his Speedroid Paper Fan. Rin ends her turn by setting a card.

Now it's Yugo's turn. "I draw. Alright first I summon the tuner monster, Speedroid Stone-Eyed Dice."

Speedroid Stone-Eyed Dice. Level: 1. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 1000.

"Now I activate Uncaught Wind to make it so all my synchro monsters are unaffected by your card effects. Now I tune Stone-Eyed Dice with Clear Wing. Shine the wings that store the holy light, and strike down your enemies with its radiance! Synchro summon! Level 8! Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 8. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500.

"Since the monster targeted by Witch's Cold Curse is gone then the trap is destroyed." Rin explains. "However, since it was destroyed because the monster left, you'll take 100 points of damage times Clear Wing Synchro Dragon's level."

" _I can use Speedroid Paper Fan to stop it and summon it, but chances are Rin can do something that'll do more damage. I'll take it and save Paper Fan for later."_ Yugo thinks to himself before taking damage from Rin's trap.

Yugo: 400 life points.

"I attack Wind Witch – Cold Snap Bell with Crystal Wing. Crystal Cataclysmic Strike!" Crystal Wing gains Cold Snap Bell's attack since it's level is high enough and Rin takes massive damage from her monster's destruction.

Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 5800.

Rin: 700 life points.

"Wind Witch – Cold Snap Bell's other effect activates. By banishing a Wind Witch tuner monster from my graveyard, I can bring her back. So return Cold Snap Bell and you'll take damage equal to the Wind monsters in my graveyard." Rin informs as she banishes Glass Bell to bring back Cold Snap Bell. It's about to deal damage but Yugo stops it.

"Once per turn, when another monster activates its effect, Crystal Wing negates and destroys the monster. Plus he gains its attack." Yugo says destroying her monster once again and returning Crystal Wing's attack to 5800 again.

"Then I'll just do it again by banishing Snowflake Bell." Rin banishes her monster to return Cold Snap Bell again and it's about to inflict 1200 points of damage.

Yugo stops her again. "I negate the damage by summoning Speedroid Paper Fan from my hand. Now I activate my face down card, Speed Breakdown. I reduce a level 4 or lower's Speedroid monster's level to 1 and for each level it loss I summon a Speedroid token." Paper Fan's level drops and two tokens that resemble micro-car toys appear in defense mode.

Speedroid Paper Fan. Level: 1.

Speedroid Token. Level: 1. Wind. Machine. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

"Now I banish Speedroid Stone-Eyed Dice so I can perform a synchro summon now. I tune the level 1 Speedroid Paper Fan and one level 1 Speedroid Token. Break all the speed limits to achieve new freedom! Synchro summon! Level 2! Hi-Speedroid Burst Cycle!" Riding right next to Yugo is a red motorcycle with yellow lightning bolts on the side being driven by a robot with a matching cyclist outfit.

Hi-Speedroid Burst Cycle. Level: 2. Wind. Machine/Synchro/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 700. Defense: 700.

"As long as Burst Cycle is on the field, I can synchro summon whenever I want. So I choose right now. I choose to tune Hi-Speedroid Burst Cycle with Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Yugo then increases Ringo's speed to its max while he's synchro summoning and passes Rin. Rin does the same and they both go fast, one can see a cone of wind around them as they smile with the arrival of Yugo's new dragon when he recites the chant.

"Embodiment of the wind and freedom surpass the speed of light to show the world your power. Synchro summon! Level 10! Strike your enemies down without them knowing! Shining Wing Synchro Dragon!"

Shining Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 10. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 3500. Defense: 3000.

Flying above them is a far more slipstream version of Crystal Wing with a larger wingspan that radiates white light. Rin can't help but smile and ask, "So Yugo. What does this dragon do?"

"As long as he's on the field, all of my opponent's monster's that are level 5 or higher will have their effects negated and they can't activate. Also whenever he battles a monster, he'll gain its attack points during the fight. Oh and since it's still my battle phase, Shining Wing Synchro Dragon fly up to attack Cold Snap Bell. Glorious Light Speed Strike!"

Shining Wing flies high straight up into the air. The moment it's out of focus it makes its wings glow even brighter followed up with it dive bombing straight down toward Cold Snap Bell at unbelievable speeds. Even though it has enough attack to reduce all of Rin's life points to 0, it still gains Cold Snap Bell's attack.

Shining Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 6300.

"Hey Yugo will you forgive me for what I'm about to do next?" Rin asks.

"I'll always forgive you Rin. Though I don't know what you can do since he can negate your monster's effects and Uncaught Wind is still in effect." Yugo smiles.

"You'll see." Rin then presses a button to activate her facedown card. "I activate the quick-play magic card Synchro Transmutation. Each player can pick a synchro monster they control and return it to the extra deck. Then the players who did that can summon a synchro monster from their extra deck with a level less than that monster as long as its type and attribute are the same."

"Do you really think I'll do something like that?!" Yugo shouts.

"I know you won't. I'm going to. I return Cold Snap Bell to the extra deck and summon the synchro tuner Wind Witch – Sparkle Bell!"

Wind Witch – Sparkle Bell. Level: 2. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 800.

Seeing the far weaker monster, Yugo is completely stumped why she summoned it till Rin explains.

"Synchro Transmutation treats the summoning of the monster I just brought out as a synchro summon. When Sparkle Bell is summoned, I can special summon a Wind Witch from my graveyard with its level increased by 1. The monster I pick is Wind Witch – Ice Bell."

Yugo goes into shock when he sees that monster summoned. He knows what it means but Rin still explains it.

"Since Ice Bell isn't level 5 or more then her effect can't be negated meaning that since she was just summoned, you'll take 500 damage." With Shining Wing being stopped with it's original target gone, Ice Witch points her wand at Yugo and finishes him off.

Yugo: 0 life points. Rin wins.

The moment the duel ended, Rin and Yugo's D-Wheels begin to slow down. They turn off on an exit. When get far on normal road, the two come to a stop. Rin feels jovial from the duel, but she looks at her now boyfriend shaking and hanging his head low. Rin gets off feeling scared she may have hurt Yugo emotionally. He dueled so hard and she beat him again and she may have crushed his spirit.

"Yugo." Rin approaches him calmly to comfort him until she got a big surprise.

"RIIINN!" Yugo leaps forward to hug her. Rin sees his large smile and some tears in his eyes and figures out he'd been crying from joy. She gets hugged tightly but just happily accepts it.

"Rin! It's been so long since we had a riding duel together and I think this was the best one. It was a little more fun than the riding duel I had with Yuzu yesterday. Now that I think about it I really enjoyed the riding duel with Serena a while back. Hey when my day with Ruri comes can I have a riding duel with her too?"

"Thank you Yugo and I'll be sure to ask." Rin says feeling like a Boa is hugging her. "I admit I thought I emasculated you since this was our first duel together as a couple, and I defeated you with a cheap trick."

"Hey this was our first duel as couple." Yugo hugs Rin tighter even kisses her since he ignored the other parts of the sentence.

At this point, Rin's feels smothered so she yells. "Yugo! Let me go now!"

"Sorry." Yugo apologizes when he releases her.

"So where in the City are we?"

"It's filled with plants and looks clean. Rin, I think we entered the Tops area."

"Oh no. We should get away before Security appears."

"If they do appear, we can outrun them or beat them. Which ever one you want to do."

They then hear someone talk to them. "I wouldn't worry about Security. At least while I am around." They turn and both are excited to see that it is Jack Atlas.

"I saw that white dragon Yuya summoned in our previous duel flying on the road and figured it was one of his counterparts. I'm going to take a guess you are the ones from here since you know how do a riding duel?" Jack says.

"Yes we are both from the synchro dimension! I'm Yugo and this is my girlfriend Rin! Can we have a duel sometime or autograph our D-Wheels?!" Yugo talks with incredible enthusiasm while rapidly shaking Jack's hand. Rin stares at the former king with hearts in her eyes and some drool from her goofy smile.

"You're definitely different from Yuya." Jack comments seemly unaffected by Yugo's excitement. "I heard from Reiji you two can switch with the others inside your mind."

"How many connections does that Reiji guy have?" Yugo asks.

"Tell me. Is Yuya aware of everything you are?"

"Yeah. He, Yuto, and Yuri see and hear what I do and they can even talk to me. The same applies with Rin the her counterparts."

"Well that'll work out. There's a Tops party happening now that I was invited to. I wanted to invite Yuya along with his friends to celebrate things being better, though I'll bring you two along and let all 8 of you see a Tops party together since Yuya's in an bizarre situation."

Yugo smiles that his idol invited him to a Tops party and the other counterparts feel happy about seeing what a high-class party looks like.

" _Jack really is that great a guy. No wonder everyone loves him."_ Yuya smiles about Jack's kindness.

" _He appears like a loud jerk, but it's amazing how he gains respect from everyone."_ Yuto notes.

" _Can we hang around him for the rest of the other days?"_ Yuri asks.

"Hey Rin come on we're going to a Tops party with Jack Atlas. Rin?" Yugo sees that Rin is still drooling with her face completely red, as she appears to be in a love struck daze.

" _Oh great. She's just like him."_ Serena facepalms.

Yugo claps his hands in front of her face to get Rin's attention. "Ugh. That was annoying. Hey Yugo where'd Jack Atlas go?" Rin asks breaking out of her daze.

"He's going to a party that he invited us too. Oh, and you were literally drooling over him." Yugo glares.

"What! I'm sorry! I mean it's Jack Atlas but I still love you."

"I'm becoming less angry, it's just annoying see you stare at other guys."

"Oh really." Rin gets ticked off. "Then how about all those women you've stared at."

"Uh. I can't think of an excuse." Yugo shifts his eyes guilty.

"Also what's with you hugging Yuzu, Serena, and Ruri on the day we came back.

"I thought they were you at first but now I do it because they're my friends and I like them."

"Ok let's calm down and head to this party."

"Good." After that fight they slowly ride to a large beautiful home. Once they park, they see Jack and his presence convinces the doorman to let Yugo and Rin in with him. When the two synchro counterparts enter, they're amazed at the fancy beauty on the large room that appears like shining crystal from the windows. Looking around, they see all the elegant outfits and servers carrying food to everyone. The two feel like they're in a different word when they compare this to the Common life they grew up in.

"I'm going to mingle and discuss future dueling events with some of the people here. Enjoy yourselves as long as you don't do anything reckless." Jack says before going off.

"You know Yugo, we can consider this our first date." Rin leans in at Yugo.

"Really. We can?" Yugo asks with a blush forming.

"Sure. I mean a high-class party that someone invited us to. So what do you want to do first?"

Yugo sniffs something. "I want to eat. Come on Rin let's try all this food they have."

Yugo drags Rin around to approach as many servers as they can and the two stuffed their faces with whatever food they were carrying. The whole party starts to feel slow to them from how the string band playing the music give it a slow tempo and all the guesses behave pretty tepid. Feeling a little annoyed from things being slow moving, Yugo activates his rollerboots to move around quick.

Rin panics and chases him down with her rollerboots. This quickly causes a commotion that everyone notices. Soon the scene goes from silly looking to just bad when they bump in to someone causing him to fall. The guy is a Security officer that's tall and wide from muscles.

"Who pushed me down?" The muscular Security officer scowls. He figures out it was Yugo and Rin since he sees them rolling away with Yugo pulling Rin by the arm.

"Come on Rin. We're going to break through the window." Yugo says feeling like an action hero.

"No we aren't. We're not vandals and we'll get cut." Rin shoots his idea down. She pulls on his arm to lead him to the front door. The doorman instinctively opens it so it wouldn't break leading to Rin and Yuri escaping. Outside, they see the large angry Security officer is still chasing them so they get on their D-Wheels and ride off with him following them on his D-Wheel and calling in some back up.

Everyone at the party gawks at the two kids run off after what happened. Jack just smirks and thinks to himself. _"Well they do know how to keep a party from being boring."_

Yugo and Rin are being chased by 5 officers along with the muscular one from the party. From how angry the muscular one is they think he may try to cause them to crash. Then things got worse as a freak rainstorm suddenly drops on them.

Yugo and Rin use the rain as an advantage by keeping their speed while Security slows down for safety. The rain affects Security's vision since they have heavy rain covering the helmet glasses. They vaguely notice them going down an exit and they follow them a warehouse area with many boxes stacked around. All six officers keep driving forward and they completely missed Yugo and Rin hiding with their D-Wheels in a makeshift alcove formed from the way some boxes were stacked. The two turn on the headlights of their rides so they can see.

"Well that was reckless and now I'm cold and wet. Also I may be hungry again." Rin whines while shivering from the rainfall.

"Hungry? We stuffed our faces with the food they served." Yugo points out.

"Yes but they weren't very filling. It was like a bunch of snack foods but there was less."

Yugo looks to see a hole on the box in front of his with something blue and soft sticking out. He tears the hole larger and smiles at the box's contents

"Hey Rin look one of these boxes has large blankets in it." Yugo pulls out a big, blue, thick blanket.

When Rin sees this, she looks to her right and sees other stacks of boxes. She notices the label of one so she gets up to take out the screwdriver in the toolbox attached to her D-Wheel. She finds a good spot and pokes an opening in it that she pulls wider. Inside this box are packets of beef jerky.

" _You can't take those. They're for the needy."_ Ruri says.

"Yugo and I are needy plus I'm its just one pack." Rin defends herself.

Yugo wraps the blanket around Rin, who quickly notes how warm it feels. Yugo goes to get a second one for himself, but Rin tells him they can share this one since it's big enough for both of them. Yugo blushes at the idea, but quickly accepts as the two sit down wrapped in the blanket sharing the jerky.

"Huh. The rain actually looks kind of beautiful." Yugo comments looking out at the rain fall.

"The rain? Actually now that it's calming down, it is a pretty sight to see." Rin admires.

"Rin can I be honest?" 

"You always can with me."

"I think this is my favorite part of the day."

"Wrapped in blanket together while watching the rainfall and eating some snack food between our D-Wheels. I think this is my favorite part of the day too."

The two lean their heads together to keep watching the rain.


	11. Yuya & Serena

At Academy in the fusion dimension, a small blue haired boy in a blue Academy uniform licking a popsicle waited for the two counterparts to cross over. After finishing his snack and moving over to a candy bar, the two came through.

"Serena! Yuya! You two finally came." Sora says enthusiastically at his two smiling friends.

"Sora! I haven't seen you since my first day at the amusement park with Rin." Yuya greets him.

"Yeah. I'm never going there with her again." Sora's face momentarily becomes pale after remembering that day. "But forget that, you guys only came to the fusion dimension once and you never saw the changes made to Academy. What is this place not good enough for any of you 8?"

"It's not Sora at all." Yuya says.

"The first trip was Yuri making amends to us. As for why we never came here after that." Serena explains then pauses to think why never decided to return. "Uh, give me a minute."

"If I had to guess, you guys subconsciously have bad memories of this place. Not that I blame all of you but trust me when I say things are different." Someone tells them. It's Asuka, who's wearing a blue Academy style teacher's outfit with thin-framed spectacles. "Things have changed here and when Yuzu and Yuri were here, the tour of the school is still an option for you guys. I recommend you take it especially you Serena."

"Hm, why me?" Serena asks.

"Well technically, you and Yuri are both still students so it's best you know what's different about your school life."

"Wait a minute. I can't go back to school yet. I'm sharing a body with other girls who have their own lives. How can I go back to school?"

" _And I don't want to go to school at Academy."_ Yuzu, Ruri, and Rin all say simultaneously.

"Gah. Wait does that mean I have to go here because Yuri is a part of me?" Yuya asks in shock.

Asuka just laughs. "Don't worry you two. Only Yuri and Serena are enrolled here and Edo made a pardon for them until you guys eventually split. Also you don't have to worry too much about schoolwork since that's limited at the moment due to the complete overhaul of how classes work."

The two counterparts sigh with relief but notice Asuka gets serious. "Speaking of schoolwork. Mr. Sora Shiunin, you have to get back to your class right now." She points to a nervous Sora, who's trying to sneak away from punishment.

"Oh come on. No one's doing much in class plus I want to give a tour to my friends." Sora pleas.

"Yes but you don't have a pardon. So go back to class now!" Asuka demands after putting on her duel disc, which causes Sora to run off back to his class.

After that scene, Asuka leads them throughout the school to showoff the facility. Academy is such a massive place, that walking around can feel tiring especially if you don't know the way. This is a given as the place is a restored castle that covers grades from middle up to high school with the upper floors being the classes for upperclassmen or more advanced classes. Asuka leads them to the academic part where the classes are at though she's showing them around on the floor that focuses on Serena and Yuri's grade.

Asuka shows off the basic stuff such as math, history, science, duel studies, Japanese and English. It really became apparent that if Yuya did go to school here with Serena, it would be obvious what kind of students they be since Yuya felt so bored by the tour so far. All the classes so far are the ones he's been failing or doesn't care about at his regular school. The only exception being the dueling classes, but this is a dueling school.

"I seriously thought this was just a dueling school like You Show Duel School." Yuya whispers to Serena.

"No. Academy has always included work such as math so can expand our minds. The only difference from what I've seen so far is that they're being taught less like something for war and more, I don't know. Why are they studying this?"

"Well so they can learn and apply it to the world when they graduate."

"Seriously?" Serena gives Yuya a confused look.

" _Great. This place is ruined."_ Yuri says after hearing everything.

Asuka shows them the literary class and when the two look in, they both giggle since Sora's in there. He's pretending to read, but he has his book propped up to hide the snacks he snuck in to eat.

Asuka looks at her watch. "You two better get away from the door and start moving soon?"

"Why?" Yuya asks. He and Serena get their answer when the bell rings and the classroom door they were looking into flies open to hit them. Serena had a defensive stance to avoid serious hurt while Yuya gets his face struck. The cause of it was Sora with a stuff face bursting out while he runs from the angry teacher about eating in class though he couldn't get to him because the other kids were running out too.

When the door closed, Yuya was in such a daze that he got caught in all the other students roaming across the halls to head to their classes. It was a confusing mess as he looked for Serena or Asuka. He accidently bumps into one student that seems familiar to him.

"Watch it." The large student growls at him. He's in a red uniform, wearing glasses, very muscular with dark skin and reddish brown hair that's slicked back into a pony tail. Yuya apologizes but is distracted because the student looks familiar. As the student walks away, another red uniformed student calls out to him.

"Hey BB hurry up. We'll be late for swim class."

"Huh, BB." Yuya says to himself before he realizes that that was the Battle Beast. The fact he doesn't look, act, or sound like a feral animal anymore shocks him so bad all the pendulum duelist can do is point with his mouth hanging open.

As the crowd clears, Serena picks Yuya up by his collar and cape. "Hey be careful Yuya. I almost lost you, and snap out of whatever it is you're doing so Ms. Asuka can continue the tour.

"B-b-but that, that, was BB. He, he's nothing like how I met him and he's just going to swim class." Yuya still mutters in a shock while Serena drags him.

"Swim class? Academy doesn't have a swim class." Serena brings up.

"It does now." Asuka explains. "Professor Leo removed almost all of the equipment he was using for his plan so we have some empty space and the a number of rooms and facilities used to train the students as soldiers were redesigned for new rooms for education or other purposes that makes this feel like a school. We're still renovating most of them, but now the students can enjoy many sports and art."

"Sports and art? What do you mean Ms. Asuka?" Serena wonders.

"Well other than a swim class, we now have a drama club, home economics, and archery club along with others that we're developing for the extra room. By the way, those three things I mentioned before, Dennis, Sora, and the Tyler sisters are in those respectively."

"Wow. That's great everyone's finding something fun to do at this school isn't that right Serena." Yuya smiles.

"This place has changed too much." Serena whispers to herself at the surprise of how different Academy is.

As they continue the tour, Asuka shows them a massive campus flyer board with many flyers about upcoming events and future clubs and classes. Yuya looks around at it with enthusiasm since the stuff looks neat like how there will be a bake sale soon by the home economics class, recruitment for the drama club, and what surprisingly makes him very happy, a flyer to help form a movie riffing club.

He turns to Serena. "Man Serena, if Academy does get half of this stuff it'll be amazing to go here."

"Possibly." Serena says with a flat expression.

"Is something wrong?"

"You can be honest with us Serena." Asuka says.

"I'm sure this is good for the other students but I don't know if this is for me. Other than the dueling classes, the Professor wanted me to be a soldier. No, he trained me to be one but prevented me from using those skills so he could keep me locked to revive Ray. Honestly, I don't think this new Academy has anything I'll like." Serena opens up until Yuya puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey that's not true. I mean we've been discovering stuff about ourselves for over a week and will find out more in the following one. I'm sure you'll find something."

"Possibly but I don't, huh." Serena was about to be doubtful until she notices a specific flyer. Not wanting Asuka, Yuya, or any of the counterparts to figure out which one it is, she just looks around at some of the others for a bit before taking out her duel disc. She uses the camera function on it to snap a picture of the flyer she was looking at quickly before asking for the tour to continue.

"Ok, but before we continue can I ask a favor from you two?" Asuka requests.

"What kind of favor?" Yuya asks.

"Are you guys still doing that dueling to try and split each other thing I heard about?"

Some time later in a massive stadium used for Academy's big dueling events, all the students gathered here by Edo Phoenix. Next to him are Asuka, Yuya, Serena, and other members of the staff with Yuya and Serena wearing their duel discs. With his face and voice ready to be broadcast like an announcer at a big game, Edo makes his announcement to the student body.

"Attention students of Duel Academy. Right now Academy has been gradually improving itself and growing so that all of you can become strong and amazing duelists but also strong and amazing people as well. One way of doing that is by expanding and learning not just from this place but other places and people. As such, we'll be having an expedition match involving our very own Serena and Yuya Sakaki from the Pendulum Dimension. Not only will they be showing all of you fusion and pendulum summoning but you will also witness it done in an action duel."

Many students clapped then discussed amongst each other what an action duel will be like. The ones who dueled or know Yuya and Serena all smirked knowing what will happen. At least they thought they did. Yuya and Serena get up so they can begin their duel by going to the center of the stadium. The two shake hands and go to their respective spots. This is when the big surprise that only Edo, Asuka, the staff, and the earlier informed Yuya and Serena knew.

"Now Action Field on!" Edo says. Underneath the stadium, an action field generator turns on and creates the field for where they'll duel, Castle of Chaos. Edo explains to the students about the basics of an action duel such as how it uses real solid vision not only to make a solid environment that duelists can interact with but also action cards which they can pick up and use. So long as they only have one in their hand at a time. With the ball of action cards flying around in the air, Yuya and Serena begin.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It's show time!" the two simultaneously declare.

"Duelists locked in battle!"

"Kicking the earth and dancing alongside their monsters."

"They storm the field."

"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling."

"Action. Duel!" With that, the action cards scatter and Yuya and Serena activate their roller boots.

Yuya: 4000 life points.

Serena: 4000 life points.

"I'll let you start things off Yuya so you can show them how it's done." Serena offers.

"Thanks Serena. First, I play the continuous magic card Dazzling Performapal Entrance then I start the show. With Scale 1, Stargazer Magician, and Scale 8, Timegazer Magician, I set the pendulum scales." Yuya plays his two signature magicians.

Yuya's scales: 1-8.

"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-7. Pendulum summon! Appear, Performapal Silver Claw in attack mode and Performapal Gumgumouton in defense mode."

Performapal Silver Claw. Level: 4. Dark. Beast/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1800. Defense: 700.

Performapal Gumgumouton. Level: 5. Earth. Beast/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 900. Defense: 2400.

"Now Dazzling Performapal Entrance activates. Since I have no cards in my hand after I pendulum summon, I can draw cards equal to the number of Performapal monsters I pendulum summoned just now so I draw 2 cards. I end my turn." Yuya rides Silver Claw with Gumgumouton following after him in its defensive position.

A good number of Academy students are impressed but their focus turns on Serena to see what she'll do since she's Academy's own. "I draw and with Scale 1, Lunalight Wolf and Scale 6 Lunalight Lemur, I set the pendulum scales." The students are awed by the sight of two Lunalight monsters, one a purple wolf and the other with the appearance of a green lemur appear in pillars just like Yuya's magicians.

Serena's scales: 1-6.

"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-5. Pendulum summon! Appear, Lunalight Indigo Coyote and Lunalight White Rabbit!"

Lunalight Indigo Coyote. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1400.

Lunalight White Rabbit. Level: 2. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 800.

"Now I use Lunalight Indigo Coyote's effect. Since she was special summoned outside her own effect, I get to add a fusion or Lunalight card from my deck to my hand. Now I activate White Rabbit's effect to return your two magicians to your hand since I control two Lunalight monsters." Serena gets her new card, and White Rabbit swings her hammer to have a shockwave send both Stargazer and Timegazer back to Yuya's hand since they were technically magic cards.

"Now I banish both thanks to Lunalight Wolf's effect to fusion summon! The lively white rabbit illuminated by moonlight. The scavenging coyote moving through the night. Spiral into the moon's gravity and become a new power. Fusion summon! Level 7! Lunalight Cat Dancer!"

Lunalight Cat Dancer. Level: 7. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.

"Now I use Lunalight Lemur's pendulum ability to once per turn special summon Lunalight Indigo Coyote since she was a non-fusion Lunalight monster banished from the field so come back my Coyote. Then I add Lunalight Black Sheep thanks to my Coyote's effect and I use my sheep's effect to discard her so I can add Polymerization."

"Now I play Polymerization to fuse Cat Dancer and Indigo Coyote. The beautiful beast dancing in the moonlight. The scavenging coyote moving through the night. Swarm in the vortex of the moon's gravity and become a new power! Fusion summon! Level 8! Lunalight Panther Dancer!"

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Level: 8. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2500.

Serena wanted to go after Gumgumouton to stop its effect and power up her monster, but she sees Yuya reaching an action card quickly thanks to riding his Silver Claw. To stop him, she has Lunalight Panther Dancer attack Silver Claw instead. Yuya tries to reaches for the action card he spotted while riding his wolf but Panther Dancer's first knocks them back but doesn't destroy Silver Claw thanks to her effect.

Yuya: 3000 life points.

Serena's monster goes in for a second attack but Yuya activates Gumgumouton's effect to negate the destruction. However, Yuya still takes the damage.

Yuya: 2000 life points.

After that she destroys Gumgumouton, sets 2 cards, and ends her turn. "Alright Yuya, you better get on with the show."

"Don't worry I will. First I draw then reset the scales with Timegazer Magician and Stargazer Magician."

"Trap activate. Fusion Hurricane." Serena says causing Yuya and his magicians' eyes to widen.

"I pick Panther Dancer so that I can destroy magic or trap cards equal to the number of materials used for her summoning, which is 2 so I destroy your Timegazer and Stargazer." A blast of wind comes from Serena's trap and Stargazer and Timegazer are both destroyed.

Yuya rethinks his strategy. "Very well then I'll set the scales with Scale 3, Performapal Big Bite Turtle and Scale 7, Performapal Momoncarpet."

Yuya's scale: 3-7.

"Now I activate Big Bite Turtle's pendulum effect to reduce Odd-Eye's level in my hand by 1. Now I pendulum summon! Come back Performapal Gumgumouton and appearing now, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 7 (now 6). Dark. Dragon/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"I was wondering when he was going to summon his ace." Sora comments while eating.

"Yeah. Yuya and Serena are both putting a good show. Though Serena's obviously ahead." Dennis says.

In another part of the stands, Grace Tyler gushes over Odd-Eyes' appearance. "Look sis. Yuya summoned his dragon. It's so pretty."

"Please tell me you still aren't chasing after that boy?" Gloria Tyler wonders with embarrassment for her sister.

Nearby them, BB stares intently at the duel. "What will you do next?"

"Since I pendulum summoned one Performapal monster, Dazzling Performapal Entrance let's me draw a card. Now I take both Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and Performapal Silver Claw and I tribute them to fusion summon!" Yuya commands causing BB to smirk. "Prideful silver wolf. Become one with the arcane dragon to create a new power. Fusion summon! Level 8! The ferocious dragon with luminous feral eyes! Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 8. Earth. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2000.

Seeing a fusion monster summoned through contact fusion wows the students and they await Yuya's next move.

"Now Beast-Eyes attack Panther Dancer. Blazing Spiral Storm!" Beast-Eyes releases its attack and destroys Serena's monster.

Serena: 3800 life points.

"That's not all. When Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon destroys a monster, he inflicts damage equal to the attack of the beast-type monster used to summon him take 1800 damage from Silver Claw."

Serena: 2000 life points.

After the astral form of Silver Claw evens out their life points, Serena gets up to activate her second face down. "I activate Lunalight Reincarnation Dance to add two Lunalight monsters to my hand."

"More! Then I set a card face down and end my turn."

"Now I draw. I now pendulum summon! Appear, Lunalight Tiger and Lunalight Blue Cat."

Lunalight Tiger. Level: 3. Light. Beast-Warrior/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 800.

Lunalight Blue Cat. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1600. Defense: 1200.

"Now since these monsters were both just special summon this turn, I can do what you just did and contact fusion them. Two beasts appearing under the moon. Go into the moon's gravity to awaken a new power. Fusion summon! Level 7! Lunalight Porcupine Dancer!" Serena's new monster is a red skinned woman in a skimpy outfit and covered in porcupine quills that have a metallic grey luster.

Lunalight Porcupine Dancer. Level: 7. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2500.

"Serena summoned a fusion monster that's also a pendulum monster!" Sora shouts.

"See. I told you she's ahead." Dennis says.

"Now I activate Lunalight Wolf's pendulum effect by banishing Panther Dancer, Black Sheep and Indigo Coyote! Elegant beast dancing on the moonlight wilderness! The beast lurking in jet-black darkness! The scavenging coyote moving through the night! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 10! The king of beasts dancing atop the summit of the moonlight wilderness! Lunalight Leo Dancer!"

Lunalight Leo Dancer. Level: 10. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3500. Defense: 3000.

"Now Lunalight Leo Dancer attack Beast-Eyes!" Leo Dancer swingers her sword at Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon but thanks to both Gumgumouton preventing his destruction and Momoncarpet's effect to half all damage Yuya will take, Yuya doesn't take much and his dragon survives.

Yuya: 1750 life points.

"Now Leo Dancer's effect activates. Since she just attacked, she'll destroy all your special summoned monsters." Leo Dancer stomps on the to make a shockwave that'll destroy all of Yuya's monsters. However, he rolls off Beast-Eyes tail and grabs an action card from a platform.

"Action Magic Bracer. At this moment, Beast-Eyes Pendulum Dragon can't be destroyed by card effects."

Although Yuya's dragon is safe, it's now his only monster so Serena attacks again with Leo Dancer's second attack. The Lunalight monster decapitates the dragon and deals what little damage she can.

Yuya: 1500 life points.

"Sorry Serena but with Performapal Momoncarpet in my pendulum zone, you won't be able to do much damage to me." Yuya gloats.

"Oh really." Serena reveals an action card. "Action Magic Extreme Sword. Thanks to this card I increase Lunalight Porcupine Dancer's attack up by 1000 attack points so she now has enough attacks to finish the duel and since I control another Lunalight monster, you can't target her with effects. Now Porcupine Dancer direct attack."

Yuya rolls as Serena's monster spins with its sharp quills but he grabs a card that's on the ground. He plays Action Magic Energy Biscuits to increase his life points by 500 but he still takes a significant amount of damage.

Yuya: 250 life points.

"Well worth a try. I set a card and end my turn."

"My turn draw! Yes! First I activate my facedown card. The trap card Pendulum Curtain Change!" Red curtains fall over both of Yuya's pendulum zones. "Now thanks to this card, I can send up to both of the cards in my pendulum zones to my extra deck face up and I can replace them with other pendulum monsters from there so long as their scales are different. So let's say farewell to Big Bite Turtle and Momoncarpet and welcome the returns of Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician." The curtains drop and Stargazer and Timegazer bow at their return.

Yuya's scales: 1-8.

"Now pendulum summon!" Appearing on Yuya's field are the returns of Silver Claw, Big Bite Turtle, Momoncarpet, Gumgumouton, and, of course, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

"Now that the cast is all here. It's time for the star to show. I play Polymerization to fuse all five together. Creatures who came from the aether! Merge with the dazzling dragon of spectacular eyes to show a new wonder! Fusion summon! Level 8! Dragon of combined forces! Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

All five monsters merged to create a mix-matched humanoid monster that appears to have his torso made from Odd-Eye's body, arms similar to Gumgumouton and Silver Claw, and legs that resemble Big Bite Turtle and Momoncarpet.

Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 8. Light. Dragon/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2000.

"Not bad Yuya." Serena sounds impressed until she brings something up. "But Lunalight Porcupine Dancer's other effect makes it so that you can't attack it as long as I control another Lunalight monster and when you attack another Lunalight monster, it'll gain 500 attack points so Leo Dancer is your only target."

"That won't be a problem because when Gestalt-Eyes is fusion summoned, he gains 100 attack points for every single other pendulum card on the entire field and in every player's extra. You have 1 in your extra deck, I have 5 in mine, and there are 5 on the field in the pendulum zones or monster zones other than him. So Gestalt-Eyes gains 1100 attack."

Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 4100.

"Now I activate his other effect. For each pendulum monster used to summon him, I get to pick up cards from the top of my deck and for each pendulum monster picked up this way, will be the number of attacks he gets this turn. Now Combined Pendulum Star Power!"

Yuya picks up his five cards, represented by a pendulum swinging to reveal 5 stars each a different color: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink. Each star bursts one by one to reveal the cards. The first is Hippo Carnival. The second shows Xiangsheng Magician then Performapal Lizardraw. The fourth shows Performapal Revival and the last star bursts to reveal Performapal Drummerilla. Yuya got three pendulum monsters so his monster can attack thrice this turn.

"Now Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attack with Pendulum Sword Swing!" Gestalt-Eyes creates an energy sword and first attacks Leo Dancer. Serena tries to activate her trap card but Timegazer Magician prevents it since Gestalt-Eyes is a pendulum monster. She also can't use the action cards because of Stargazer Magician's effect.

Yuya's dragon and Serena's lion woman's swords clash but Gestalt-Eyes wins out destroying her.

Serena: 1900 life points.

Then it attacks and destroys Porcupine Dancer since she can now be a target.

Serena: 300 life points.

Finally, Gestalt-Eyes Pendulum Dragon attacks Serena directly.

Serena: 0 life points. Yuya wins.

With that the action field disappears, and Yuya goes to Serena. She quickly gets up and brushes off the dust from the attack. When Serena sees Yuya, she smiles and the two fist bump as the students applaud their duel.

Later, the two counterparts are leaving Academy to head back to the portal to head home.

"After our duel, I signed up for Ms. Asuka's Duel Entertainment class." Serena informs Yuya as they leave.

"Really that's great. See you did find something here you'd like." Yuya gives her a side hug while smiling.

"Actually I haven't. It's still dueling, just a different style. It's not the same as with you where you can be a showman."

"Oh. So do you have some kind of idea of what you may like to take at Academy once you split."

"I kind of have some idea of what I want to do here, but I want to keep it a secret for a while."

"Ok Serena that sounds fair."

After the two crossover, Serena arrives at the Hiragi home. However, she doesn't greet Shuzo and instead runs straight up to Yuzu's room and gets out her duel disc and the calendar of when everyone's day is.

" _Hey you just passed my dad without greeting him."_ Yuzu scolds her fusion side.

"Sorry, but I need to check something." Serena looks down at her duel disc to look at the photo she took. She made sure there were other flyers around it and it wasn't in the focus that much. That way, if her counterparts look at the picture, they don't know what flyer she was looking at. She sees the date on the flyer then looks at the calendar.

"Yes! I can go." Serena cheers but then looks closer on that day.

"Figures there would be a catch."

 **Note: If you're wondering why this chapter was so late, it's because I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. I'm mostly better now.**


	12. Yuri & Ruri

"NO! I refuse to go." Yuri struggled as Ruri tries to pull him from a street pole.

"Come on Yuri you must." Ruri keeps pulling. "I think you should try to make amends with those in the xyz dimension. Others from Academy have already done so."

"Yeah but they didn't kidnap you. Besides, I want to patch things up with those I hurt at a slower pace. Not one where they're all together so they can kill me."

At this point, Ruri was getting exhausted from forcing him to go until she got an idea. "Hang on, you're not scared of going there are you?"

"What are you implying?" Yuri narrows his eyes at the xyz girl.

"I think that since xyz was hurt the most by fusion, you're scared to face a very big and dark part of your past."

"Or maybe I don't want to go because your friends and big brother will try to snap my neck the moment they see me and I have to force switch with Yuto to use as a human shield."

"Don't you dare!"

"Either way, I find it a bad idea."

"You know, I do believe you can get along with them." Ruri admits. "You aren't the same person as before and no matter how bad things got in our lives they turned out better in the end. Though that's not going to happen if you don't move forward."

After a moment, Yuri gives his answer. "There's no way you're letting me say no after giving a speech like that. Ok, let's go to your home."

"Yes. This is great. I get to see Shun again and maybe Kaito will be there." Ruri skips to the portal hub followed by Yuri who says, "But if I get attacked, I'm fighting back with everything I got."

"Uh, alright." Ruri gives a nervous smile. _"This may have been a bad idea."_

In the xyz dimension, the Resistance has become less busy than before since the Leo Corp. handled the refugee situation by providing more temporary shelter and most of the repairs. The Resistance members still volunteer to help the people of Heartland until everything had been completely restored though with Dr. Faker now able to restore power for the city to use, the Resistance started to lose its purpose more and more each day. This isn't a bad thing as now those who fought and took care of Heartland during it's most dire time will now be allowed to live like regular people again.

A good start to this return to form is Allen and Sayaka in the middle of duel for fun with Sayaka about to win.

"Now Fairy Cheer Girl attack directly." Sayaka commands her cute monster who delivers a cheerleader kick to Allen pushing him down.

Allen: 0 life points. Sayaka wins.

"I won." Sayaka says in surprise before then jumping up and down in happiness. "I won! I won!"

"You did great Sayaka. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out as good as Ruri or Yuto." Allen compliments.

"I doubt I can get that strong." Sayaka doubts but perks up when she hears Ruri say, "I think you can."

The two turn and see their friend in front of them and all three run to hug each other.

"Ruri, we're glad to see you again." Sayaka says.

"Did you bring Yuya with you this time?" Allen asks.

"Actually, I brought Yuri." Ruri points out to Yuri who just looks at the two with an uninterested look. "Yuri these are my friends Sayaka and Allen. Sayaka. Allen. This is Yuri, Yuto's fusion counterpart."

"Wait. Kaito told us about him. He was the one who kidnapped you Ruri." Allen states.

While Allen starts feeling anger toward Yuri and begins glaring at him. Surprisingly, Sayaka speaks up to Yuri's defense. "Allen. The other Academy members proven they weren't all bad and helped out great with the restoration. So I'm sure he's not the same as the person who took Ruri. Right Ruri?"

"Trust me. Yuri is no longer the person he was before." Ruri reassures them.

"Yeah, yeah, it's true. I've changed and am sorry for causing so many problems. Now can we go find your overprotective brother so I can apologize to him while he tries to kill me." Yuri says with a half-hearted expression.

Allen and Sayaka both look at Ruri. "His attitude still needs work, but trust me, he's better." Ruri nervously smiles. "Regardless though where is Shun?" 

"He may be at the refugee camp since that's where we last saw him, but ever since Dr. Faker's progress on restoring all the power to the city drastically increased, he and Kaito have been helping him out." Allen tells her.

"It's possible he could be anywhere in the city." Sayaka says then leans in to whisper in Ruri's ear. "Truthfully, I think that with you and Yuto no longer around, he's keeping himself busy so he can ignore his own pain."

Ruri feels crestfallen over the revelation that her situation could be hurting her brother. However, she snaps out of it and puts on a smile while they head to the camp. Inside Ruri's mind, Rin was sobbing from hearing what Sayaka said.

" _Are you crying?"_ Serena asks.

" _Sorry, sniff, just realized how what's happened to us is hurting others who care about us. I mean the only loved ones I have is Yugo and those at the orphanage, but as long as they know I'm safe, it doesn't matter where I go. Plus, Yugo is still with me."_ Rin explains while trying to hold back her tears.

" _Yeah you're right. I'm still living with my dad but now he only sees me one out of four days. It's not as bad as with Shun but who knows what he's feeling."_ Yuzu laments over the thought.

She then notices that Serena also seems be lost in thought. _"Serena are you ok?"_

" _Hm. Oh, sorry I just feel bad for Ruri, but I'm kind of agreeing with Yuri because I'm having a difficult time picturing Shun as someone who can feel grief. When I was in the Lancers, he always acted very angry and serious. Even when I saw him when you and Ruri came here for your days, I was shocked he could act that calm and nice."_ Serena tells them what she was thinking.

" _I get what you mean. When I first met him, he challenged Masumi to a duel when he found out she was from LDS but when he saw me and mistook me for Ruri, he calmed down and was surprised to see me. Then Yuto punched him."_ Yuzu says.

The two other bracelet girls just gave a confused look when they heard the last sentence. " _How are Yuto and this guy friends?"_ Rin questions.

"You know I can hear you three and don't appreciate talking about my brother behind my back." Ruri says under her breath so she doesn't look odd talking to herself in front of Allen and Sayaka.

" _Sorry but we kind of do want to know how did Yuto and Shun become friends?"_ Yuzu says.

"You want to know how Yuto and Shun became friends." Ruri says which gets Allen and Sayaka's attention.

"Huh. Who wants to know?" Sayaka asks.

"My counterparts. I wasn't there so I don't know the details when they became friends but Shun has told me. It was during that duel where everyone thought Shun cheated."

"Oh yeah I remember. Shun was going for a big match at the school but things got delayed when there was evidence that he was cheating." Allen explains. "They later found out that his opponent planted it and he got disqualified."

"Right. Yuto was the one who exposed what Shun's opponent did. Shun felt grateful for him and the two became friends ever since." Ruri says.

"Wow. No wonder Shun thinks highly of Yuto." Allen says amazed by Yuto's actions.

"It makes sense he doesn't have a problem with him and Ruri dating. Every other guy who looks at her, he'd scare them off." Sayaka comments.

Ruri got a little annoyed remembering her brother's overprotective attitude of her but then mentions how at first, she and Yuto believed he wasn't ok with them dating. This gets her friends curious by what they mean but Yuri gets their attention.

"Excuse me, but weren't we going to a camp?"

"Ah, you're right." Ruri grabs Yuri by the arm and activates her rollerboots. She rides toward the camp, remembering where it is from when Yuto and Serena came, while dragging Yuri with Allen and Sayaka following behind them.

They get to the campsite and the three xyz residents look around to see if Shun is there. The place has less people than before but it's still busy. While asking the Resistance members where Shun is, Allen keeps eyeing Yuri. He had to catch his breath when they got there due to Ruri dragging him, but after he did, Yuri did nothing but lean against a pole. What ticked Allen off about Yuri was how despite Ruri's defense of him, he acted like he had no sympathy for those who're still recovery from the damage. The other Academy members who came to help showed clear emotions toward the citizens of Heartland from regret of their actions to relief when they saw the people starting to smile. Yuri's apathetic attitude just rubbed Allen the wrong way.

Soon Ruri approaches Yuri. "Shun's not here. Apparently, he left half an hour ago to check up on things at the Club Branch, but some got calls he's going around to get supplies for them."

"I'm not running around this city looking for someone who can't stay in one place. I'll give my apology to him on a later day." Yuri responds.

"I guess that's fair." Ruri sighs at the feeling of not seeing her brother today. As they exit the tent, Sayaka goes up to Ruri with an idea on how to cheer her up.

"Say Ruri, how did you and Yuto started dating?"

Sayaka decided to use Ruri's love for Yuto to cheer her up if she started talking about him. Both Ruri and Yuri stop when they heard Sayaka say that though for different reasons.

"Oh you don't want to hear that story." Ruri blushes while smiling with her hands on her cheeks.

"Yes let's not talk about it." Yuri says from annoyance. He doesn't care for his counterparts or the bracelet girl's love lives unless there's something that he can use to mess with them.

"You said earlier that you and Yuto didn't think Shun was alright with you two dating and I just want to know what you mean." Sayaka pries so she can get Ruri distracted from her down mood.

"Well you see after Shun introduced us, we started spending time together since we're the same age." Ruri says. "At first we were giving each other advice on dueling and just hanging out. Then one day, I got bold and told him I want to go on a date with him."

"What did Yuto say?"

"He wanted to but was a little uncertain about it. Yuto knew about Shun's violent attitude, which became more known about when he had an outburst during that match he was accused of cheating, plus Shun told him about how he's not comfortable with me dating yet. However, I convinced him to have one date without either of us telling Shun."

"In other words, you were lying to your own brother. I didn't think you were that kind of person." Yuri interrupts with his own thoughts.

"Neither of us liked keeping it a secret, Yuri."

"Oh sure. A romantic couple who stop dueling to flirt would never enjoy having a secret relationship." Yuri sarcastically remarks. It didn't help that there was some truth to his statement since both Ruri and Yuto's face turned red.

Deciding to ignore him, Ruri continues. "Anyways, we dated a few months in secret until we did a stupid mistake that caused Shun to find out about us. Shun invited Yuto to our home for dinner. Then, either from muscle memory or something like that, when Yuto started to leave we kissed each other goodbye. In front of Shun."

Everyone has a shocked expression from hearing that. The only ones who didn't were Yuto, who has his face buried in his hands, and Yuri who bluntly says what everyone is thinking. "Wow. You two are idiots."

Allen seethes when Yuri openly insulted his friends. Sayaka notices this and tries to get back to the story before a fight opens up. "So what happened after Shun saw you two kiss?"

"Well Shun looked very surprised and angry, Yuto got scared, and I was trying to figure out how to stop anything bad from happening. While we tried to explain things, I accidently mentioned that we were dating for the last few months, he got angrier but then shockingly he started to calm down. Shun didn't want to hurt Yuto due to him always being a good friend no matter what. After that we were able to explain things like how I was sick of him being overprotective of me toward dating and Yuto wanted to tell him. Long story short, Shun accepted us dating."

"It's good things worked out at the end." Sayaka says.

"Yeah, too bad her Yuto still cowers around Shun when he's around Ruri." Yuri brings up. That is what pushes Allen over the edge.

"That's it! No one calls Yuto a coward fusion!"

 _"It's Yugo! Not fusion! And I never called Yuto a coward!"_ Yugo yells.

"He was talking to me you moron! And speaking of misunderstanding what people say, I said he cowers in front of Shun, I didn't say he's a coward. There's a difference." Yuri says.

"I don't care because I'm tired of you insulting my friends and your uncaring attitude!"

Yuri's starts narrowing his eyes. Before anything starts, Ruri pulls Yuri aside to where they can talk in private.

"What is going on with you? I thought you wanted to make amends for your actions?" Ruri asks the fusion counterpart.

"Hey, I do. I apologized to you and your counterparts when I spent the day with Yuzu even talking about my past. I also apologized to Yusho at his house, and Asuka before leaving the fusion dimension when I went with Yuzu. I'm also now friends with my counterparts. Admittedly, there are arguments and some insults thrown, but that's cause we're stuck with each other." Yuri defends himself.

"Then how come you don't act so apologetic around Allen and Sayaka? I know you don't have the best personality but when you apologized to Yuzu or helped Rin with her trauma you acted so sincere and concerned. When you apologized to them, you acted like it was a chore."

"Because I didn't do anything to them at least not directly. I don't know how to explain to someone who loves spending her day helping people, but I never seen them before and other being with the enemy, I didn't do anything bad to them. With your brother, kidnapping his sister is bad so I do feel like he deserves an apology even if I'm afraid he'll attack me. They on the other hand, I just don't feel any guilt around them."

"You're right I don't understand and it's not like you actually hurt everybody in xyz, but you're making things worse."

"In case you haven't noticed, you're friend is the one who's doing the same."

Ruri sighs from all this and takes a moment. "Let's just go talk this over and then how about you and I will blow off steam by having our duel. Does that sound fine to you?"

"Yes." Yuri and Ruri go back to where Allen and Sayaka are. The two counterparts see Allen determined with his duel disc activated and Sayaka begging him not to do what he's going to do.

"Yuri. I challenge you to a duel." Allen declares.

"Sorry not interested. The only person I want to duel today is Ruri." Yuri tells him.

"I don't care. I know why you two have to duel but I'm going to take you down for insulting my friends."

Yuri is about to say something, but Ruri covers his mouth so she can avoid things from escalating. "Look Allen, I know Yuri is very, very, very difficult to get along with but let me duel him. If you see our duel, I'm sure you'll see he's not as bad as you're making him out to be."

Allen deactivates his duel disc and goes along with Ruri's suggestion. Normally, he wouldn't but it was Ruri saying it so he trusts her.

They find a good open spot and ready to duel with Allen and Sayaka as the spectators. With their decks in their respective duel discs, Yuri and Ruri start dueling.

Yuri: 4000 life points.

Ruri: 4000 life points.

"Come on Ruri. Beat this guy so hard Yuto and Yuya fly out of him." Allen yells.

"There's an interesting idea. Seeing as the crowd is against me, I'll give you the first move Ruri." Yuri says.

"Thank you Yuri." Ruri says before starting her turn. "First I special summon through her effect Lyrilusc – Turquoise Warbler. Then when she's special summoned I can special summon a Lyrilusc monster from my hand or graveyard so I'll summon Cobalt Sparrow."

Lyrilusc – Turquoise Warbler. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

Lyrilusc – Cobalt Sparrow. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 100.

"Since Cobalt Sparrow was special summoned I add Lyrilusc – Sodalite Satinbird from my deck to my hand. Then since Turquoise Warbler was special summoned that means I get to play Small Bird Gather and summon 2 more from my deck, hand, or graveyard with their effects negated."

Ruri's field is almost filled with her birds and while she normally gets five on the field, she goes for a xyz summon now with Sodalite Satinbird attaching itself to the summoned monster.

"Birds with beautiful wings! Gather on the battlefield and take brilliant flight! Xyz summon! Rank 1! Lyrilusc – Assembly Nightingale!"

Lyrilusc – Assembly Nightingale. Rank: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0. Overlay Units: 5.

"And now I play Polymerization to fuse Assembly Nightingale with the Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler in my hand. Twitter of the songbird that resounds in the night. Become one with your friend and cry more intensely. Fusion summon! Level 1. Lyrilusc – Independent Nightingale!"

Lyrilusc – Independent Nightingale. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 0.

"Oh a fusion summon on your first turn." Yuri smirks. "I'm guessing you don't have any problems with fusion summoning?"

"Actually what you said to Rin was actually quite good. No matter what the summoning is none of us have a problem with it now regardless of what happened in the past." Ruri gives a reassuring smile.

"That's good. I was afraid I'd have to play therapist again today, and let's face it, I'm the last person to give people psychological advice."

"They seem to get along quite well." Sayaka notes.

"Whatever. I want Ruri to beat this guy." Allen mutters.

Ruri continues her turn by explaining what her fusion monster can do. "Now since Assembly Nightingale had five overlay units attached to her, Independent Nightingale's level will go up by five. In addition, she gains 500 attack points times her level so she's now a level 6 monster with 4000 attack points."

Lyrilusc – Independent Nightingale. Level: 6. Attack: 4000.

"That's not all. I activate Independent Nightingale's effect to inflict 500 damage times her level!" When Ruri says this, the winged-beast fusion monster creates a massive tornado that pushes Yuri back hard onto the ground with 3000 points of damage. This got a big cheer from Allen.

Yuri: 1000 life points.

"She did that much damage on her first turn." Sayaka shouts from surprise.

"Yeah and now she has a super powerful monster too." Allen comments with a smile.

When Yuri gets up, he's giving off his trademark mischievous smile. "You know Ruri everyone acts like you're a sweet angel, but from the duels I've seen you in, you can be quite brutal. Then again a tough duel is a fun duel and I'm not holding back either. When I take damage I can special summon this monster from my hand. Com forth Predaplant Nepen Leviathan!"

Appearing on Yuri's field is the largest monster he's ever summon in terms of size. It's a massive monster fish with a gaping mouth that resembles a pitcher plant. When it's summoned, a predator counter flies out from it and hits Independent Nightingale on the neck that the monster tries to pull off.

Predaplant Nepen Leviathan. Level: 8. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 3600.

"Predaplant Nepen Leviathan's other effects are as followed. After I special summon him this way, he gains attack points equal to the damage I just took. In addition, when he's summoned all monsters my opponent controls gains a predator counter and he gains an additional 600 attack points for each predator counter that's on the field. Also, predator counter's reduce a monster's level to 1so your monster isn't that threatening anymore."

Predaplant Nepen Leviathan. Attack: 3600.

Lyrilusc – Independent Nightingale. Level: 1. Attack: 1500.

Seeing that large monster and her weakened monster, Ruri places a card face down and ends her turn. Yuri begins his turn by drawing.

"Alright first I summon Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio. Then with his effect, I discard a monster card from my hand to summon from my deck a Predaplant monster. The monster I summon is Predaplant Chlamydosundew."

Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio. Level: 3. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 800.

Predaplant Chlamydosundew. Level: 2. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 600. Defense: 200.

"You're probably planning to use Chlamydosundew's effect to fusion summon and since Independent Nightingale has a predator counter that means you can use her as a Dark monster for said fusion." Ruri speculates. "However, Independent Nightingale is unaffected by card effects."

"That's true. In fact, Nepen Leviathan could only put a predator counter on your monster because when he's summoned through his effect, he ignores all other monster's effects." Yuri admits. "So I guess I'll settle for fusing Chlamydosundew with Ophrys Scorpio. Two beautiful flowers with an insect-alluring fragrance! Now become one, and from the hell beneath your petals, give birth to a new terror! Fusion summon! Level 8! Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Level: 8. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2000.

"Starving Venom's effect activates. He gains attack equal to a special summoned monster my opponent controls and while it's not a lot, he gains attack equal to Independent Nightingale."

Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Attack: 4300.

"Now Predaplant Nepen Leviathan attack Independent Nightingale." Yuri orders his plant monster, which swallows the bird woman whole.

Ruri: 1900 life points.

"Now Starving Venom attack dir-." Yuri's about to end things with his dragon but gets interrupted by Allen's angry shouts.

"Hey what do you think you're doing!? I knew you were no good! What person who tries to turn over a new life would make a monster stronger for no reason when it can win without it!"

Yuri becomes extremely ticked off that his move was just interrupted by a stupid rant and is about to give Allen a piece of his mind. However, he doesn't because an angry Ruri does it for him.

"Allen will you shut up! You are beginning to sound like Shun and I don't mean in a good way. Yuri's going all out like this not because he's cruel but to show respect to me as a duelist. In fact, Yuto and Yuya both gave it their all in my duels with them and they're both just as strong as Yuri. So stop thinking that Yuri is still some bad guy just because of what he did and I expect an apology from you later. Got it!"

"Understood." Allen gulps from seeing Ruri mad for the first time he's known her. He then meekly sits back down and keeps quiet for the rest of the duel.

Yuri is stunned silent but continues the duel. "Anyways, Starving Venom attack directly."

Starving Venom charges up it's attack but Ruri plays her trap card, Lyrilusc Great Migration. Since she has no monsters and her opponent is about to attack directly, she can summon as many level 1 Lyrilusc monsters from her hand or graveyard as possible so she summons Independent Nightingale, Turquoise Warbler, Sodalite Satinbird, Kyanite Warbler, and Cobalt Sparrow all in defense mode.

Lyrilusc – Sodalite Satinbird. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0.

Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 100.

With Cobalt Sparrow effect, Ruri adds Lyrilusc – Diamond Logrunner and Kyanite Warbler's effect has her add Sapphire Swallow to her hand after sending another Kyanite Warbler from deck to the graveyard. Now that monsters are on the field, Yuri chooses to have Starving Venom to instead attack Independent Nightingale and it's destroyed.

However, despite losing his chance of winning, Yuri just praises Ruri. "I'm really glad you were able to make that play Ruri because now I get a chance to do this. I overlay my level 8 Starving Venom Fusion Dragon and my level 8 Predaplant Nepen Leviathan. Creature with a never-ending hunger grow from all you consume! Xyz summon! Rank 8! Starving Venom Consumption Dragon!"

From the swirling galaxy appears a black version of Starving Venom with blades on parts of its body such as the jaw and arms.

Starving Venom Consumption Dragon. Rank: 8. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 3300. Defense: 2500.

"With Starving Venom Consumption Dragon's summoning, I'll end my turn there."

"My turn. Draw. First I normal summon Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow then I return Sodalite Satinbird to my hand so I can special summon Lyrilusc – Diamond Logrunner."

Lyrilusc – Diamond Logrunner. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

"When Diamond Logrunner is special summoned this way, all my monsters have their level increased by 1. So now that they're all level 2, I can overlay them. Flocks of wonderful songbirds take flight and gather to form one! Xyz summon! Rank 2! Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch!"

Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch. Rank: 2. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 300. Defense: 300. Overlay Units: 5.

"I also use the Sodalite Satinbird in my hand to attack to it since it was just xyz summoned. Plus, Sapphire Swallow lets me attach the Kyanite Warbler in my grave to it as well. Now with seven overlay units, she'll gain 2100 attack and defense points."

Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2400. Overlay Units: 7.

"Now Enumerate Finch attack Starving Venom Consumption Dragon. When Enumerate Finch battles a monster that monster loses 300 attack and defense for each overlay unit attached to her."

Starving Venom Consumption Dragon. Attack: 1200. Defense: 400.

"I remove an overlay unit." Yuri says as his monster is attacked. As one of the purple orbiting balls disappears from Starving Venom, Yuri explains what his monster can do. "Once during either player's turn, I can remove an overlay unit so that one of my opponent's monsters will have their effects negated and my dragon gains equal to its current attack."

"But you can't target Enumerate Finch with card effects since Cobalt Sparrow was used to xyz summon her." Ruri points out.

"True. However, if the overlay unit detached was a fusion monster then my dragon's effect can't be negated and can ignore other card's effects." Yuri holds up his Starving Venom Fusion Dragon card, which was the overlay unit that was just removed.

With the effect activated, Starving Venom Consumption Dragon opens it's mouth and sucks energy from Enumerate Finch making it stronger by gaining her 2400 attack points and her weaker since without Wind monster's effect, its attack returns to normal.

Starving Venom Consumption Dragon. Attack: 3600.

Lyrilusc – Enumerate Finch. Attack: 300.

The attack continues and Starving Venom completely destroys Enumerate Finch with the power shift.

Ruri: 0 life points. Yuri wins.

Yuri approaches Ruri and offers his hand and a gentler smile. "Good game, Ruri."

"Yes it was." Ruri shakes his hand.

After they shake hands, Allen walks up to them feeling guilty. "Yuri. I'm sorry for my behavior around and not believing that you meant no harm. I'm also sorry for the stuff I said to you when I interrupted your duel."

"There are no hard feelings. Though as warning for the future, I'm still not good around people." Yuri says.

"So what do we do for the rest of the day Yuri?" Ruri asks the fusion duelist who just shrugs.

"Hey. Shun's coming." Allen says.

"Ha ha ha. Good joke trying to freak me out by saying Shun's coming." Yuri thinks Allen is trying to mess with him but Sayaka points out that Shun really is coming since they can see Rise Falcon flying toward the camp.

Ruri feels ecstatic by this. "This is great! I get to see Shun again and you can apologize to him."

"Well I can get that out of the way. Just make sure you remind him I have both Yuto and Yuya in my head."

 **Note: First I want to say thank you to those who wished me to feel better. I just want all of you to know that I feel great right now.**

 **Now, I want to apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but unlike last time where the issue was my health, here it's because I could not think of what to write. It was really difficult coming up with a scenario for Yuri and Ruri to do together. So much so that I had to completely rewrite what I had written from scratch because it was just bad. Trust me, no matter what anyone thinks about this chapter, it's leagues better than what I originally wrote.**

 **Though it did give me an idea for a future chapter.**


	13. Yuto & Yuzu

At Maiami City, Yuto and Yuzu enter a clothing store on Yuzu's insistences. When Yuya and Serena went back to Academy to see the place, before they left, Asuka asked that when Yuzu or Yuya again were in control if that person could come to help with her class since actual entertainment duelist would be a good help. Yuzu found the idea great. She's helped her dad out teaching at You Show Duel School for the past few years so it seems fun to her. In fact, after Ruri got back to the Hiragi house, Yuzu, through Ruri, and Shuzo worked on the lesson plan. However, she felt there's one detail left and she needed Yuto to be with her.

"I still think, yawn, this is unnecessary, Yuzu." A tired Yuto says. He had to wake up early so Yuzu could get what she needed from the store.

"Yes it is necessary. If I'm going to teach a class, I got to look like someone who can teach and I can't do that in my school uniform." Yuzu explains gesturing about her outfit. "Plus, no offense Yuto, but you dress like the last person who should be helping teach a class. I mean your outfit is tattered."

"Well it's difficult to keep clothes in good condition during an invasion."

Yuzu feels a little embarrassed she forgot that detail about Yuto. "Oh right. I forgot about that. Regardless, there's also the fact that it just looks ridiculous."

"What do you mean?"

"You look like you should be in a punk rock music video. Is there a reason for that?"

"Uh, you see." Yuto looks away from her out of embarrassment. "I kind of thought at first that if some people from Academy were defeated by some Resistance members that had a striking appearance, they would be we nervous about running into that person."

" _I'm not even going to respond to that."_ Yuri says.

" _So even Yuto has some dumb moments if he thought Academy would react like that."_ Serena comments.

Yuzu decides to ignore Yuto's reasoning and leads him around the store till they find some clothes for teaching. After some time looking around, Yuzu found what she had in mine and the two changed into the outfits to try them on. Yuzu picked a pair of red suit pants and a matching jacket with a purple shirt underneath. Yuto got black pants and a white button shirt though he insisted he keep wearing his tie.

"So how do I look?" Yuzu asks.

"Don't you think the glasses are a bit much?" Yuto notes the fake spectacles she's wearing.

"I think they make me look more studious. Now let's pay and get to class."

" _Get to class. There's a phrase I haven't heard in a while."_ Yuto thinks to himself. It was an ordinary phrase people his age say all the time but the fact that he's hearing it again in so long makes him smile a bit.

Later, the two arrived at Academy in the Fusion Dimension and met up with Asuka, who's taking them to her class.

"Thank you for doing this you two. Though I must say you didn't have to wear anything special for this. I just want my students to learn from someone who's studied entertainment dueling more than me." Asuka says.

"I told you these clothes were unnecessary." Yuto remarks.

"Well it's my first time teaching so I want this to be good Asuka." Yuzu says. Asuka just accepts Yuzu's decision to dress up before they entered the classroom.

Inside, the classroom is normal sized with somewhere between 20-30 students. Yuzu notices two familiar faces amongst the class: Sora, who quickly hides a box of cookies he was eating before waving at Yuzu, and Dennis wearing a blue Academy jacket, who 'magically' creates a note card with HELLO in his hand. Yuzu feels more relaxed and ready since she knows that there are a couple of people she knows here.

Asuka introduces them. "Alright class. Today we have Yuzu Hiragi from the Pendulum Dimension and Yuto from the Xyz Dimension. Yuzu is a student of You Show Duel School and will be teaching you today on entertainment duels with Yuto assisting her. I'll hand things over to you two."

"Thank you Asuka." Yuzu says before setting things up.

" _You know, I could have given you some notes on Entertainment Duels so you can help out Yuzu other than just being a teaching assistant."_ Yuya informs Yuto.

"I know but I don't mind being an assistant. Plus Entertainment Duels haven't been my style." Yuto whispers so that the students don't see and think he's talking to himself as Yuzu presents the lesson.

"Now Entertainment Duels first started with the invention of Action Duels. The Real Solid Vision provides a great advantage for this kind of duel since the ability to interact with the monsters can give a duelist the ability to perform breathtaking feats."

During her lesson a couple of students talk to each that they already know this stuff and one commented that Yuzu probably doesn't know much since she's just talking about the basics. Yuto sees her starting to get angry but then she quickly calms herself to continue the lesson.

"However, the thing to remember about Entertainment Duels isn't making fancy acrobatics with your monsters. It's about connecting to the hearts of the audience."

"Connecting to the hearts?" one of the students talking before says under his breath.

"Now she's just talking nonsense." The other whispers.

The two are easily noticed by Yuto since they're not being that discreet, but he focuses on helping Yuzu out. "Hey Yuzu could you give examples of Entertainment Duelist connecting to people's hearts."

"Of course I can." Yuzu says confidently. She talks about some of Yusho's duels and brings up Jack Atlas since, while he's never stated to Entertainment Duelist, he does win over crowds with dueling regardless of social class. Yuzu also brings up Yuya though there were a number of times when she starts gushing over her boyfriend's duels. Yuto has to make gestures or even distract her with fake coughs as a way to remind her that she's suppose to be teaching a class and not swooning over the guy she loves.

After that, Yuzu starts talking about various techniques that can be used in an Entertainment Duel as well as how to use the Real Solid Vision to make some good effects. She does a good job with the class taking interest and notes in what she says. However, those two students still cause some problems with their comments about how Yuzu probably doesn't know anything.

It gets to a point that not only does Yuzu pause during her lesson to growl from rage, but Asuka, Dennis, and Sora keep getting annoyed with them. Yuzu even comes close to stopping her lesson right there to attack them with her fan. However, Yuzu doesn't as Yuto approaches them.

"Excuse me. But it seems you two seem to be having a difficult time understanding what's being taught." Yuto speaks in a cheery manner. "Perhaps after class you two could be a part of a duel to see the true nature of Entertainment Duels up close."

"That's a great idea Yuto. Dennis. Sora. You two have been paying attention the most to Yuzu's lesson, I'm sure you two wouldn't mind helping out with the duel." Asuka suggests. Sora and Dennis just smirk at the idea.

One of the students that was interrupting turns to tell how neither agreed to this, but they then notice Yuto giving both of them an angry glare. The kind that says 'you'll do it or else'. This causes them to agree to the duel.

After Yuzu's lesson, Dennis, Sora, and the two students are in the gym with the action field, Acrobatic Circus, active. Dennis has his Performage Trapeze Magician with one overlay unit and 1000 life points. Sora has 800 life points and Frightfur Bear on the field. As for the two students one has Chimeratech Rampage Dragon and 1500 life points while the other student has Blaze Fenix the Heavy Bombardment Bird and 1300 life points. It is now Sora's turn who draws.

"Now ladies and gentlemen it's show time!" Sora loudly proclaims.

"Sounds like he's trying to channel Yuya in the duel." Yuto says.

"Well he did want to learn from him when they first met." Yuzu says.

"Now I'll play Fusion Weapon and equip it to Frightfur Bear so he can gain 1500 attack points." Sora plays his equip card and his monster shows off its new weapon.

Frightfur Bear. Attack: 3700.

"But wait there's more." Sora says as he gestures over to Dennis, who makes his play. "I remove an overlay unit from Trapeze Magician so that this turn Frightfur Bear can attack twice."

Performage Trapeze Magician swings on top of Frightfur Bear with it's last orbiting overlay unit turning into light pieces that fall on Frightfur Bear. Sora commands Frightfur Bear to first attack Chimeratech Rampage Dragon. The demonic teddy bear charges up Fusion Weapon and delivers an energy that creates a spectacular explosion when it destroys Chimeratech Rampage Dragon.

Academy student: 0 life points.

"However, thanks to Frightfur Bear's effect, Rampage Dragon really isn't destroyed." Frightfur Bear extends its arm to pull the machine dragon right out of the explosion, throws it up into the air, and then eats it making Frightfur Bear look very bloated. This makes the students watching the duel giggle at how silly the more rotund bear looks with Trapeze Magician balancing on it like it's a circus ball.

"When Frightfur Bear destroys a monster and sends it to the graveyard, it gets equipped to him and he gains 1000 attack points." Sora explains.

Frightfur Bear. Attack: 4700.

Frightfur Bear attacks Bomb Fenix by lunging forward and blasting it point blank with Fusion Weapon. This creates another dazzling explosion that even the two students seem impressed by despite they both just lost. To end their show, Trapeze Magician swings in to grab Frightfur and drops it off so they are both standing next to their respective owners when they take a bow.

Academy student: 0 life points. Dennis and Sora win.

"That was a wonderful demonstration of Entertainment Dueling you two." Asuka compliments Sora and Dennis before then turning to the rest of the class. "Ok, I want everyone to thank Yuzu and Yuto for giving us their time and looking at the time, class should be over soon."

The students thank Yuzu and Yuto even the two students who talked during Yuzu's lesson thanked her. Yuzu was obviously beaming with pride. When the bell rings, the students get up to go with Sora running out in the quickest.

"Thanks for the lesson Yuzu. It was good to see you again. Bye." Sora says in a very rushed manner as he passes Yuzu.

"Sora! Quit running off that fast when you leave class!" Asuka yells. "Everyday he does that."

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" Yuzu asks.

"The cafeteria. It's now the school's lunch break period." When she says that both Yuzu and Yuto's stomachs start to growl. Asuka lightly smiles at them. "Come on. Let's go get something to eat."

The cafeteria is full with students but since Asuka is a member of the faculty, she can get food without having to wait in long lines of students. She uses this privilege so Yuzu and Yuto can get something quicker. After they get their food, the three find a table to eat at.

"This food is good." Yuzu says.

"Yeah this place does tend to serve good food. One of the few things that hasn't changed." Asuka mentions.

"By the way, thanks Yuto for helping out with those jerks talking during my lesson. Seriously, if they didn't shut up, I would hit them."

"It's no problem. I didn't want your anger issues ruin your teaching credibility." Yuto casually mentions before getting whacked by her fan.

"I don't have anger issues." Yuto's only response to Yuzu's denial was to narrow his eyes at her and point to the paper fan that was on his head. After quickly processing it, Yuzu blushes from embarrassment and tells him sorry.

" _Now all four of us have been hit by that fan."_ Yuri brings up.

" _Where does she keep that thing?"_ Yugo asks.

" _I stopped questioning that a while back. Still, surprised Yuto got hit by it."_ Yuya says.

"I do wonder why those two students kept acting up during my lesson. Are they regular trouble makers or something?" Yuzu wonders.

"No not really." Asuka says. "I wouldn't call them model students but I've never known them to do something like this. They both did get yellow rank after all."

" _Maybe that's it."_ Serena joins the conversation even though only Yuzu can hear her.

"What's it Serena?" Yuzu asks.

" _It's probably your clothes. You're wearing red and in Academy, all the students are divided by accomplishments and skill into three colors: red, yellow, and blue. Those who wear red are the lowest rank so they probably thought you didn't have much skill to begin with."_

"Wait a minute! You wore red when we first met and you're an amazing duelist."

" _I was kept locked away by the Professor and hardly ever did anything. Of course, they would assign me to a low rank."_

"What are you talking about with Serena, Yuzu?" Yuto interrupts to know what the conversations about.

"Serena was just telling me how they rank everyone at this school with primary colors and since I'm wearing a red suit, those two students assumed I'm not very skilled." Yuzu tells him.

"Yeah that's another thing that hasn't changed about this place." Asuka admits.

"Wait. If they're divided by red, yellow, and blue, how come Yuri wears that purple uniform?" Yuzu wonders.

Yuto pauses for a bit and tells her what Yuri just told him. "Yuri says that Leo Akaba promoted him from student to a staff member and his outfit symbolizes it. He also adds that looking back it seemed like a way to keep a closer eye on him while also using his skills in the Dimensional War."

The conversation stops when Sora and Dennis show up to sit with them. They talk with each other while eating their meal in order to catch up on what they've been doing lately as well as other stuff. It felt like a normal lunchtime for friends at school. After they finished eating, Yuto and Yuzu change back to their regular outfits so that they can duel more comfortably since their duel will be an Action Duel. Asuka lets them use the gym and have them duel on an Action Field with Sora and Dennis watching.

"You two ready?" Asuka asks over the speakers in the Action Field's control room.

"Ready." Yuzu and Yuto both say.

"Very well. Activating the Action Field, Wonder Classroom." Asuka creates a field that resembles a classroom with a pitched floor like in a lecture hall rising on both duelists' sides and floating books that act as platforms. As the Action Cards float in their orb, the chant begins with Sora, Denis, and Asuka partaking in it.

"Duelists locked in battle!"

"Kicking the earth and dancing alongside their monsters."

"They storm the field."

"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling."

"Action. Duel!" The action cards scatter and Yuto and Yuzu activate their duel discs and rollerboots.

Yuto: 4000 life points.

Yuzu: 4000 life points.

"I'll take the first turn." Yuzu declares as she starts by moving up to jump on the book shaped platforms to find an action card. "With Scale 4, Progression the Melodious Diva, and Scale 8, Allegro the Melodious Diva, I set the pendulum scales." Yuzu places Allegro on one side appearing over an 8 and next to her is a woman with red and green buns and a matching dress over a 4.

Yuzu's scales: 4-8.

"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 5 to 7. But before I do, I activate Progression's pendulum effect. By revealing a Melodious monster in my hand, I make every monster in my hand and after they're summoned the same level as that monster. The monster I choose is the level 5 Elegy the Melodious Diva so all my monsters are level 5. Now Pendulum Summon! Elegy the Melodious Diva and Mozarta the Melodious Maestra."

Elegy the Melodious Diva. Level: 5. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 1200.

Mozarta the Melodious Maestra. Level: 8 (now 5). Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 2600. Defense: 2000.

"Two level 5 monsters. So you're going to do that right off the bat." Yuto comments as he moves up on the platforms to keep track of her plays on the field.

"That's right." Yuzu lands on a platform and grabs the Action Card on it. "Now I overlay Elegy and Mozarta. Elegant dancer grace us with your beauty accompanied by memorable music. Xyz summon! Rank 5! Tchaikovska the Melodious Maestra!" Yuzu's new monster has on a gold, blue, and white ballet outfit with a big tutu and matching hair while her skin is pure white. She's holding a gold flute and has two yellow overlay units orbiting her as she spins and plays her music.

Tchaikovska the Melodious Maestra. Rank: 5. Light. Fairy/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 2.

"Next I play Action Magic Extra Draw. Since I summoned a monster from my extra deck, I get to draw a card. Then I play Deceptive Cadence. As long as this magic card is on the field, I'll take half of any battle damage involving a Melodious monster. With that I end my turn."

"Alright, it's my turn and I draw." Yuto looks at his hand for a few seconds before making his move. "First I set Scale 5, The Phantom Knights of War-Torn Bags." A cloaked figure emitting blue soul-like flames carrying bags strapped to it appears in a pillar of light on Yuto's left.

"Wait only one pendulum card?" Yuzu looks confused.

"I don't have the other."

"That's not something you should openly tell your opponent Yuto."

"Actually, I don't have the other yet. I use The Phantom Knights of War-Torn Bags' pendulum effect to discard a card so I can add a The Phantom Knights card from my deck to my hand. Now I can set Scale 2, The Phantom Knights of Dark Uniform." On the opposite side of Yuto, a tattered military uniform that looks like it's being worn by blue flames appears over a 2 in the pillar of light.

Yuto's scales: 2-5.

"Now that the scales have been set, I pendulum summon! The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak and The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots appear."

The Phantom Knights of Ancient Cloak. Level: 3. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 1000.

The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots. Level: 3. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 200. Defense: 1200.

"Now I overlay my two knights. Souls of knights who fell on the battlefield. Revive here and now, and become the light that breaks the darkness! Xyz summon! Rank 3! The Phantom Knights of Break Sword!"

The Phantom Knights of Break Sword. Rank: 3. Dark. Warrior/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 1000. Overlay Units: 2.

Yuto removes an overlay unit to activate Break Sword's effect to destroy a card on both players' side. He picks Break Sword and Tchaikovska the Melodious Maestra. Break Sword releases two dark energy blasts that strike the targets. Since Break Sword is gone, Silent Boots and Ancient Cloak both come back as level 4 monsters, however, Tchaikovska is still standing.

"I stopped my monster's destruction with Allegro's pendulum effect. Once during either player's turn, I can negate a Melodious monster being destroyed by a card effect." Yuzu explains.

"I thought that card only stopped destruction from battle. Regardless, I have two level 4 Dark monsters so I overlay them. Creature who came from the darkness fight against the oppressive evil! Xyz summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon!"

Yuto's new dragon resembles Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon greatly but the silver parts have been replaced by red armor and plating.

Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon. Rank: 4. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 2.

"I activate Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon's effect to remove an overlay unit from it so I can negate the effect of a monster and half it's attack points. Then until the end of the turn, Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon gains the attack lost." Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon removes an overlay unit to release red lightning at Tchaikovska. However, Yuzu counters it.

"When Tchaikovska the Melodious Maestra is targeted by a monster, I remove an overlay unit from her to the negate the effect and destroy it." Yuzu's monster stops the effect with a blast of sound that destroys Yuto's dragon.

"When Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon is destroyed I can choose to destroy a card in my pendulum zone and place it there. However, I choose to send it to the extra deck." Yuto says.

"Huh, but it is Scale 8." Yuzu questions Yuto's decision.

"I have other plans." Yuto smirks. "Such as banishing Ancient Cloak and Silent Boots from my graveyard so that I can add a The Phantom Knights card and a Phantom Knights magic or trap card. I end my turn by setting three cards."

"Argh. This is so frustrating." Sora groans.

"What are you talking about? I mean neither have done any damage but they both have good control of their sides so things seem like it can go either way." Dennis says while eating from a box of fruit snacks.

"That's what makes it frustrating. I can't tell who'll win and where did you get those?"

"From the stash in your backpack. It's normal to snack during a show. Don't worry I'll pay you back." Dennis casually keeps eating the candy ignoring Sora's angry expression.

Sora jumps forward at him trying to get the box back while Dennis's long reach keeps it away from him. Yuto and Yuzu stare blankly at the sight before Yuzu remembers that they're in a duel.

"Anyways, I draw." Yuzu sees that it's Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert, which makes her smile. "Now I pendulum summon. Appear, beautiful songstress of the flowers, Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert."

Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"Now this monster can be xyz summoned by using a Rank 5 or 6 fairy-type xyz monster. Overlay! Master of instruments create a symphony that'll sooth the chaos and reach the souls of all who hear it! Xyz summon! Rank 7! Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra!"

Bloom Conductor appears holding a conducting baton with her hair in a pink bun and wearing a black dress that's designed to resemble a tux decorated with flowers.

Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra. Rank: 7. Light. Fairy/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 2.

"Now whenever Bloom Conductor is special summoned, I can destroy magic and trap cards you control up to the number of Melodious monsters I control so I choose to destroy both of your pendulum cards. Overture Shockwave!"

Bloom Conductor points her baton to send out a sound wave at the two Phantom Knights pendulum cards until Yuto stops it. "Trap card activate. The Phantom Knights Sacred Ground. As long as this card is face up on the field all Phantom Knights magic and trap cards I control can't be destroyed or have their effects negated except this card. So my pendulum cards can't be destroyed."

Yuzu responds by removing an overlay unit from Bloom Conductor to activate her other effect. Until the end of the turn, Yuto can't activate any magic or trap cards until the end of turn. With his magic and trap cards sealed, Yuzu attacks directly with Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert. Since Yuto is being attacked and he controls no monsters, he special summons The Phantom Knights of Last Defense in attack mode because of its effect.

The Phantom Knights of Last Defense. Level: 5. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2500.

"When The Phantom Knights of Last Defense is summoned by its effect it can't be destroyed battle." Yuto informs Yuzu about the blue flame sentry wearing heavy plate armor.

"Very well, but you'll still take the damage. Bloom Lead continue with your attack on The Phantom Knights of Last Defense." Bloom Lead delivers her beautiful looking attack on the knight. It survives but Yuto feels the force of the attack as his life points go down.

Yuto: 2500 life points.

Yuzu then has Bloom Conductor attack next and the same thing happens again.

Yuto: 700 life points.

Yuzu ends her turn there and Yuto begins his by drawing a card.

"First I use War-Torn Bags to discard a card and add a The Phantom Knights card to my hand from my deck. Next I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Deceptive Cadence."

Yuto's magic card creates a whirlwind that destroys Yuzu's continuous magic card. Yuzu activates Deceptive Cadence's other effect where if it leaves the field, she banishes so she can draw cards equal to the number of Melodious monsters she controls so she draws two cards.

"Now if I can pendulum summon level 4 monsters then I can bring Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon back from my extra deck. Pendulum summon! Return to the field, Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon." Coming out from the portal the pendulum created is the pendulum version of Yuto's dragon.

"Next I activate my trap card, Forced Xyz. When a xyz monster is summoned, I can summon a xyz monster from my extra deck that has a rank equal to it with this card attached to it as a xyz material. So I summon Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon."

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Rank: 4. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 1.

The sight of the two xyz dragons surprises Yuzu who needs to do something about them since she figures Yuto wants to do more with them this turn. She spots an action card on the ground and shocks Yuto, Asuka, Dennis, and Sora by jumping off the platform without fear. Fortunately, Bloom Lead and Bloom Conductor grab her so she can land gently next to the card she grabs.

"Sorry for scaring you but I need to be ready for whatever you're going to do Yuto." Yuzu apologizes for the scare her stunt did.

"Never do that again you almost gave us heart attacks!" Yuto yells referring to himself and the other dragon boys even Yuri, who feared for Yuzu's safety. "And remember you have not just Ruri but Rin and Serena in you too."

"Actually when I saw the action card they figured out what I was going to do and they seem ok with it."

" _Zarc must have had a thing for daredevils because there's no other explanation on how you three could all fall for girls like that."_ Yuri comments.

Yuto ignores Yuri to resume the duel. "Regardless this duel is over. I play The Phantom Knights of Possession and I use it to make Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon acquire a level equal to a monster I control. I pick The Phantom Knights of Last Defense so Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon becomes a level 5 monster."

Dark Rebellion Liberate Dragon. Level: 5.

"In addition, I activate The Phantom Knights of Dark Uniform's pendulum effect which is the same as The Phantom Knights of Possession's card effect. So Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon also becomes a level 5 monster."

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Level: 5.

"I have 3 level 5 monsters and I overlay them to summon this monster. From the depths of purgatory, dedicate to the unsinking souls your song of rebellion! Appear and echo forever more! Rank 5! Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon!"

Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon. Rank: 5. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500. Overlay Units: 4.

When Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon appears Yuzu plays Action Magic Recess. It makes a monster her opponent controls unable to attack or activate their effects this turn. Yuto activates his other face down card, Dark Bribe, to negate the effect and let's Yuzu draw a card.

"Thanks for the card Yuto but I'm afraid it'll be wasted. As long as Bloom Conductor has a xyz monster attached to her, I can remove an overlay unit from her so I can add a magic or trap card I own that was sent to the graveyard this turn back to my hand. So I will do that to return Recess back to my hand." Yuzu says.

"If Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon has Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon attached to it then I can remove an overlay unit to negate a monster's effect when it activates and destroy it so Bloom Conductor's effect won't go through."

One of the overlay units vanishes as Dark Requiem releases a blast from its stain glass designed wings at Yuzu's xyz monster. Though Bloom Conductor is saved thanks to Allegro's effect negating her destruction. Yuzu moves quickly across the field on her rollerboots to look for another Action Card to use.

" _You know this is an Action Duel. You can have some fun and ride your monster."_ Yuya suggests.

"You know what, I think I will." Yuto gets on top of his dragon to ride it. "Now I remove another overlay unit from Dark Requiem for his other effect. Once per turn, a monster you control will have their attack reduced to 0 and Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon will gain the surplus. I choose Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra."

Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra. Attack: 0.

Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon. Attack: 5800. Overlay Units: 2.

"I attack Bloom Conductor! Disaster Disobey of Requiem!" Dark Requiem swoops down to attack the weakened singer with Yuto riding his dragon.

While Yuzu moves around, she defends herself. "I discard Score the Melodious Diva from my hand to make your dragon's attack 0."

"I remove another overlay unit from Dark Requiem. Since it's a monster effect you activated he can negate Score's effect."

After Score's effect was negated, Yuzu spots something and jumps to grab and activate an action card. "Action Magic Lost Notes. Dark Requiem's effect is now permanently negated."

"A little late to activate that card don't you think."

"You think that I only have one monster that can activate from my hand?" Yuzu smirks. "I discard Counterpoint the Melodious Diva from my hand. Now I can switch Bloom Conductor's attack with Dark Requiem's attack since they're battling."

Yuto becomes worried that he'll lose but in the corner of his eye he spots an action card on a nearby platform and jumps to grab it. When he sees what it does he immediately plays it.

"Action Magic No Changing Answers. For the rest of this turn, all monsters can't have their attack or defense points altered."

"What!"

Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon strikes and destroys Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra and flies up to shine a light of many colors on the field from its wings. It's such a captivating sight that for a second, Yuzu doesn't notice her life points drop.

Yuzu: 0 life points. Yuto wins.

The action field vanishes and Yuto goes up to Yuzu, who's smiling from pride. "Well looks like someone was paying in class."

"Huh. What are you talking about?" Yuto questions what she meant.

"Come on. Having your monster fly up after delivering a finishing blow to do something beautiful and wonderful like shine a light of many colors. Where could you have picked that idea up?"

"Ok so I probably took note of a few things you said during your lecture." The two smile and high five for the fun duel.

Later in the day as they head back to portal, Yuzu asks Yuto a question. "Hey Yuto. You've been smiling a lot today."

"Why is that weird? You act like I can't smile."

"No what I meant was it seems you really enjoyed today. Which now that I think about it was just a day at school."

"Probably why I liked today so much."

"Huh."

"Buying new clothes for school, attending class, eating in a cafeteria with friends, and then having a duel with them for fun. It all felt like a regular day for someone my age."

Yuzu thinks back to what Yuto said earlier today about why his clothes are always tattered and puts the pieces together. Academy's Invasion forced him out of a normal life and into one fighting. Now that he no longer has to deal with that doing ordinary things like go to classes at a school feels refreshing to him.

Yuzu gives him a gentle smile and replies, "Yeah. I think having ordinary days is nice too."

 **Note: I based this entire chapter off that panel from the Arc V manga where Yuto and Yuzu wore business suits. Not kidding. I may get some anger for Yuto winning because of an action card (or as I like to call them 'the writers of the show subtly poking fun at how Yugioh characters always get the card they need to win out of nowhere' cards), but trust me, I like these characters enough that I want them to all the win the duels their in. It's just that losers from both sides will happen.**


	14. Yugo & Ruri

Ruri finishes getting herself ready for the day before she leaves Yuzu's home. After seeing Yuto enjoy what he considered an ordinary day at school, she decided that today she would do the same and hang out doing some fun stuff in Maiami City. It's been awhile since any of the others spent any time in the Pendulum Dimension and Ruri liked the peaceful atmosphere of the place. After getting her duel disc, she steps outside and is greeted by bright sunshine, birds singing, and Yugo.

"Ruri!" Yugo happily says as he does his usual hug. "I'm glad we can finally meet. Well other than what happened weeks ago."

" _Yugo! Get off of her!"_ Rin and Yuto both shout.

"Yes I'm glad to see you too Yugo. Now can you please let me go? I think you're starting to squeeze me too tight." Ruri tells him.

"Huh, oh sorry." Yugo apologizes as he separates from her.

" _And he hugged her just like we thought."_ Serena sighs at Yugo's predictable nature.

" _Yep. By the way, it happened in the morning so you owe me some cards."_ Yuzu says smugly causing Serena to growl from annoyance that she lost their bet.

" _So when we do separate do you think Yugo will hug us like that?"_ Yuya asks.

" _Possibly. Though if we somehow come back as girls then definitely."_ Yuri replies.

"You know, you didn't have to greet me by hugging me." Ruri tells Yugo.

"But I just got excited since you said you wanted to learn how to ride a D-Wheel today. It'll be great to have a riding duel with you." Yugo smiles.

"I don't think we'll do that today. Though I do want to see what it's like since Yuzu, Rin and even Serena have driven one before."

Yugo hands Ruri the extra helmet as they get on his D-Wheel. "Well don't worry. I know everything you need to know about D-Wheels plus I found a good spot in the city we can practice."

He then starts up his ride and they go off. After some time the two arrive at a motorcycle circuit. Yugo noticed it once when he rode around Maiami City on his first day in control. From what he found out about the place from their website online is that the place has some closed tracks that people can practice on and some stores to buy supplies. The last one may be useless to them since D-Wheels use different parts than motorcycles.

On the empty track, Yugo looks over Ringo to make sure everything is in working order for Ruri's first ride. As he finishes up, Ruri appears wearing a purple and pink riding suit she got from one of the stores.

"You look good Ruri." Yugo compliments.

"Thank you. I admit I'm trying to get used to the feel of it. I am glad that I'm wearing boots that aren't worn out." Ruri says.

Yugo shows Ruri where everything is, what they do and how to use them. He also tells her how to do the basic techniques like how to turn on a sharp turn or stopping by skidding. After Ruri familiarizes herself with the controls, she feels ready and starts the D-Wheel's engine up and sets it to run.

"Ok. I'm ready to go. Huh." Ruri turns to Yugo and sees a puzzled look on his face. "Yugo is something wrong?"

"I'm not entirely sure but I feel like I'm forgetting something." Yugo scratches his head. "Ask Rin if there was anything I didn't mention or I explained something wrong."

"She just said no you didn't. Actually you not only went over everything, you explained them very well."

"Well, I mean, I do try to know what I can about this stuff." Yugo shyly blushes.

"I'm going to start my first practice run."

"Ok. Enjoy yourself."

Ruri rides off at a decent speed and Yugo feels happy that she made the first turn. He feels relief that she has a handle on things, but he can't shake off that he forgot an important detail. This bothers him so much he closes his eyes trying to think what it is. However, his concentration is broken when he hears Ruri scream and he opens his eyes to see her flung from the D-Wheel. As she hits the ground, Yugo instinctively activates the rollerboots and rushes toward her fearing the worse.

Ruri winces from the pain of the crash. She's bearing the pain by gritting her teeth and has her eyes closed. As her agony starts to die down, Ruri hears someone saying her name repeatedly. When she opens her eyes, she sees a very familiar face.

"Yuto?"

"I'm not Yuto. I'm Yugo." Yugo says with some frustration from thinking his name was said wrong again.

"Oh, Yugo. I'm sorry I–Eek." Ruri finally realized that Yugo's face is just a few inches from hers. Feeling very uncomfortable, she pushes him away from her. Ruri accidently pushes the riding duelist so hard he falls on the ground.

"Ah. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Yugo, but you were too close." Ruri apologizes while helping him up.

"Why would that make you want to push me?"

"Our faces were about to touch. We could've accidently kissed or something. Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"

"No, what is it?" Hearing Yugo say that almost made Ruri want to facepalm.

"Just forget it. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Nevermind me, what about you? Are you injured or hurting in any way?" Yugo concerns himself over Ruri.

"I was in pain but it's stopped now. I'm guessing the riding suit and helmet must have took all of the damage." Ruri looks over her suit noticing the armor parts and that it's made of tough materials.

"Yeah a riding suit will really protect you. Why do you think I always wear one? I mean what if I cra-Ahhh! Ringo!" Yugo remembers his D-Wheel and goes to it to assess the damage with Ruri constantly apologizing for crashing his D-Wheel. After looking over it, he tells her there's no serious damage. Ruri feels some relief she didn't break it. While he continues to inspect the D-Wheel for anything, Yugo mentions how he and Rin made sure that it was made of metals and alloys that would make it strong enough to survive any damage but not affect the speed.

After seeing everything was in order, Yugo starts checking to see if Ringo's computer functions were still operational. "Ok. Duel mode seems to be working along with the GPS. Now to see if the autopilot, argh, the autopilot. That's what I forgot."

"What do you mean by the autopilot? Yugo can D-Wheels drive themselves?" Ruri questions feeling amazed by the technology.

"Yeah they can. They're not good at it but I should have mentioned it. It's a safety feature where the computer part of the D-Wheel takes care of the driving during a Riding Duel so the duelist can focus on the dueling without worrying about crashing. Actually, looking back, I think Yuya, Yuzu, and Serena must have had the autopilots engaged when they were in the Friendship Cup."

"That does sound very useful. How come you or Rin didn't mention this?"

"Because we don't use it. Actually a lot of experienced Riding Duelist don't use the autopilot because it's a very faulty safety feature. For one thing, you can't use it on just any rode. It has to be a path that loops itself since it was programmed for Riding Duels and can't stop until the duel's over. If you use it on something like a city street, the AI becomes confused at where to go and it'll cause problems."

"I can see how that could be an issue if you can't use it anywhere."

"Actually that's not the worst part." Yugo adds. "You see the AI of the autopilot can't process things the same way a human driver can because the parts that let it be aware of everything on your path don't exist. Because of this, it always makes the D-Wheel go forward and only moves to make turns. If there's some kind of rode hazard or something heading towards you, it won't be able to react since it has no way to register it. I just wanted to show it to you since Riding Duelists use it as practice for when they start out so they can get the hang of driving a D-Wheel, and you could do the same."

"Yeah I should do that." Ruri considers before she realizes something. "Hang on. How is it you can know all the problems of a safety feature but not know what personal space is?"

"Well I studied it. Me and Rin did a lot of research on what metals can be used, how to program it, and how to build a D-Wheel. Not to mention we spent a lot of time getting parts and tools including saving up for a computer to program it. Took us eight years to do all of that." Yugo laughs about the last statement.

"Eight years! Now I really feel bad for crashing your D-Wheel." Ruri hangs her head in guilt.

"By the way, how did you crash?"

"I wanted to go a little faster but I accidently made it go too fast. I tried to stop but panicked, and I was flung off."

"Well nothing's broken or anything so that's good. Anyways, I'll just set the autopilot up and you can get a feel of riding a D-Wheel."

"Yugo, do you really think it's smart to continue. I don't want to break the D-Wheel you and Rin spent years making."

"Don't worry Ruri. I'm positive things will go better this time around." Yugo gets up close to Ruri's face again causing her to scream, "You're too close Yugo!"

With the autopilot engaged, Ruri's next attempt at riding went much better even though she wasn't driving. A number of laps on the circuit later, they decided to let her try on her own and Ruri's able to make the laps. Yugo notes she's clearly still a novice since her speed wasn't as fast as what he usually does though she does seem to have control at least. Once Ruri got riding the D-Wheel down, Yugo wants to move her up to practicing actual Riding Duels, but Ruri tells him that she'll settle for being able to drive a D-Wheel for now. Plus it is lunchtime so they leave to get something to eat and pick a Chinese restaurant since it's close by.

"I never had Chinese before." Yugo brings up.

"I've only had it a few times in my life. Let's go in and-." Ruri gets interrupted when they both hear a girl shout 'Darling', who tackles Yugo to the ground in a hug.

" _Mieru!"_ Yuya shouts from surprise.

" _Why is that girl hugging my Yugo?!"_ Rin screams with anger.

While watching this unfold, Serena notices Yuzu is burning with rage and holding her fan eager to hit something. _"Wait. Why are you angry?"_

" _I have similar issues with Mieru and that's all I'm going to say."_ Yuzu seethes.

Mieru stops hugging Yuya's synchro counterpart when she realizes it isn't him. "Hang on. You aren't Yuya. Your aura's different from his."

"Cause I'm not Yuya. I'm Yugo. I swear if someone calls me Yuri, I'm going to lose it." Yugo grumbles while rubbing the back of his head.

"I think she came this way."

"That Mieru girl better be right about Yuya being here."

"You know you're just going to lose to him like before."

"Will you shut up about that?!"

Ruri hears three different voices approaching and turns to see them. It's the LDS trio Yaiba, Hokuto, and Masumi.

"Yuzu? Is that you?" Masumi mistakes Ruri for her rival.

"No my name is Ruri. Oh, and before you say it, this guy isn't Yuya. His name is Yugo." Ruri informs them.

"Weird. They have the same faces as them." Yaiba points out.

"Hey, Mieru. I thought you said that Yuya was here." Hokuto says.

"My fortune telling said he would be and it's never wrong." Mieru says. This makes the trio surprised that they were following someone using something as superstitious and archaic as fortune telling.

"Sorry to disappoint you guys but it's not Yuya's day to be in control." Yugo mentions getting the attention of the four. "Come on Ruri. I'm getting really hungry."

"Alright. Sorry you weren't able to see Yuya today, but my friend and I are going to eat." Ruri says but Masumi grabs her shoulder to stop her.

"Hang on. Do you two know where Yuya Sakaki and Yuzu Hiragi are?" Masumi asks.

"Also what did that guy mean by 'it's not Yuya's day to be in control'?" Hokuto asks.

"Plus, how come you two look like them?" Yaiba asks.

"And why is it you two both have multiple souls in your bodies?" Mieru asks looking at them through her crystal apple.

Ruri feels hungry and decides to invite all four to eat with her and Yugo. After getting a table and while they wait for their food, the six properly introduce each other. Yugo and Ruri learn what the LDS trio and Mieru's connections are to Yuya and Yuzu are with Ruri getting her answer on why Yuzu seems furious toward Mieru. Earlier in the day, Mieru was doing her daily fortunate telling and it told her Yuya would be here. She ran into the LDS trio who tagged along since they wanted to see Yuya again. Yugo and Ruri explain the situation they're in and that they're trying to separate. Other than Mieru, who's more willing to believe in supernatural events, the trio seems very skeptical about it until Yaiba speaks up.

"So what Gongenzaka told me was true. I didn't believe him when I asked about Yuya and that Zarc thing, but I guess you seem to be proof he wasn't lying."

"I'm still having difficulty believing it. Ruri, if Yuzu is in your head then she should be able to tell you what card I gave her after I lost to her on our rematch." Masumi says.

"She says its Crystal Rose." Ruri answers.

"That's right. I'm guessing you two are counterparts to them."

"Ah great, and I was looking forward to winning my rematch against Yuya." Hokuto complains.

"Oh please. I don't need fortune telling to know you'll lose." Mieru mocks a now down Hokuto. "Besides with how powerful Darling is, I doubt there's any duelist who can defeat him."

"Ruri beat him about a week ago." Yugo brings up, which surprises the four sitting with them.

"It was a close duel so it could've gone either way. We were having it during our day in the Synchro Dimension and the point was for us to both enjoy the match." Ruri modestly explains.

"Yeah but still you beat him." Hokuto says.

"Regardless you two are lucky." Yaiba sighs.

"In what way are we lucky when we don't have our own bodies?" Yugo questions feeling a little angry.

"I don't mean your situation. I mean the fact that you guys can go to the other dimensions with no problems."

Both look confused by the statement so Mieru fills them in. "Well the Leo Corp. controls the portal hub and Reiji Akaba made it so that only those with his permission can cross to the other dimensions; mainly employees he sends over for whatever reason."

"Basically you guys are the only ones, at least here, who can freely go to and from the four dimensions whenever you like." Masumi adds.

"Huh. I didn't know that." Ruri says.

"Still it would be great to go to them." Yaiba says. "I mean a place where everyone can use synchro summoning. That sounds like a great place for me to improve my skills. By the way Yugo, do you know if there are X-Saber cards there?"

"Oh yeah, I've seen people use those cards a few times. I had some too but sold them all." Yugo answers.

"Wait. Why would you do that?" Yaiba takes offense at what the riding duelist said.

"I needed the money."

"It would be good for others to go to the other dimensions to see different summoning styles like when Yusho came over to the Xyz Dimension." Ruri says. "If you want Yaiba, Yugo and I will duel after we eat so you watch how someone from the Synchro Dimension duels up close. Though chances are he'll also use xyz monsters."

"I think we'll all want to see you duel." Masumi mentions. "Just to see how strong Yuya and Yuzu's counterparts are."

At that moment, everybody's food came. Ruri looks at Yugo's dish and asks what he got.

"I didn't know what to get so I just randomly picked something called mapo tofu." Yugo says.

"Can I try some?" Ruri asks. Yugo let's her and they both take bites.

"Be careful that stuff is very–." Mieru tries to warn them but pauses when Ruri becomes red and sweaty and drinking her water to cool off. "–hot and spicy."

"Not bad." Yugo remarks unaffected by the spicy taste.

After lunch, Yugo and Ruri found a good spot for their duel with Mieru and the LDS trio watching in order to see how duelists from the other dimensions duel up close.

Ruri: 4000 life points.

Yugo: 4000 life points.

"I'll start the duel off." Yugo says. "First I play Tuner's High to discard Den Den Daiko Duke and special summon Speedroid Mystic-Eyed Dice." Yugo summons to his field a red eight-sided die with eye markings on each side.

Speedroid Mystic-Eyed Dice. Level: 4. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1800.

"Now when Mystic-Eyed Dice is special summoned, I can summon a level 4 or lower Speedroid monster from my deck though I can only use it to synchro summon Wind monsters. I special summon from my deck Speedroid Terrortop and thanks to it, I can add Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice to my hand, which I normal summon.

Speedroid Terrortop. Level: 3. Wind. Machine/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 600.

Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice. Level: 2. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 500. Defense: 500.

After summoning his tuner, Yugo then plays the magic card Spare Tire Run to summon two level 1 Tire Tokens. With his field set up, Yugo first uses Mystic-Eyed Dice and Terrortop to synchro summon Clear Wing Synchro Dragon and he summons Hi-Speedroid Puzzle using Bright-Eyed Dice and the two tokens.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Level: 7. Wind. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

Hi-Speedroid Puzzle. Level: 4. Wind. Machine/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 1300. Defense: 1600.

"I'll end my turn by setting two cards face down."

"Ok I draw and I play One for One." Ruri discards Lyrilusc – Diamond Logrunner and summons Lyrilusc – Cobalt Sparrow.

Lyrilusc – Cobalt Sparrow. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 100.

"When Cobalt Sparrow is special summoned, I get to add Sapphire Swallow to my hand. Now I play Small Bird Gathering to special summon 2 more Cobalt Sparrows with their effects negated."

"Three level 1 monsters. Looks like she's going to xyz summon now." Hokuto comments.

"Since I control a winged-beast-type monster, I can special summon Sapphire Swallow and a level 1 winged-beast-type monster from my hand so I summon her and Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler."

Lyrilusc – Sapphire Swallow. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 0.

Lyrilusc – Kyanite Warbler. Level: 1. Wind: Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 100.

"Huh. She brought out more!" Hokuto says in shock.

"I think you better brush up on your strategy studies if your wrong on what a xyz user will do." Masumi teases.

"Kyanite Warbler's effect kicks in to let me send a monster from my deck to the graveyard so I can add a Lyrilusc monster to my hand from my deck. With my five level 1 monsters, I construct the overlay network! Birds with beautiful wings! Gather on the battlefield and take brilliant flight! Xyz summon! Rank 1! Lyrilusc – Assembled Nightingale!"

Lyrilusc – Assembled Nightingale. Rank: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0. Overlay Units: 5.

"Since Sapphire Swallow was used as to xyz summon Assembled Nightingale, I attach Diamond Logrunner from my graveyard to her as an overlay unit. With six overlay units, Assembled Nightingale gains 1200 attack points and she can attack you directly six times. Oh and remember, you can't target her with card since Cobalt Sparrow was used."

Lyrilusc – Assembled Nightingale. Attack: 1200. Overlay Units: 6.

"Let me guess. You'll keep attacking me directly until I lose right?" Yuya asks.

"Yes. Though I am curious to see how you'll stop it." Ruri replies. She sends Assembled Nightingale to attack and her monster successfully strikes. However, Yugo grins because a green ten sided dice with eye markings materializes in front of Ruri and blows up in her face.

Yugo: 2800 life points.

Ruri: 2800 life points.

"Whenever I take battle damage, I get to banish Speedroid Bright-Eyed Dice from my graveyard so my opponent will take the same amount of damage too." Yugo explains.

Ruri gets up after falling down from being caught off guard by his monster. "That was a shock but I still have five more attacks so continue Assembled Nightingale with another direct attack."

"I summon Speedroid Menko. Since my opponent declared a direct attack, I can special summon it from my hand in attack mode and every monster you control will switch to defense mode." Yugo summons his monster and Assembled Nightingale's potential onslaught of attacks stops when it changes positions.

Speedroid Menko. Level: 4. Wind. Machine/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 2000.

"I'm not finished yet, Ruri. I activate Shockwave Crash to tribute a Speedroid monster, in this case Hi-Speedroid Puzzle, and deal damage equal to its attack points." Yugo's trap card causes Hi-Speedroid Puzzle to rush at Ruri at a ludicrous speed. Ruri braces herself and gets struck by the fast moving synchro monster.

Ruri: 1500 life points.

"I set a card facedown and end my turn." Ruri shakes off the attack to set her card.

"At the end phase, Hi-Speedroid Puzzle's effect activates. Since it was synchro summoned and sent to the graveyard this turn, I can add a Speedroid monster from my graveyard to my hand so I pick my duke."

"Wow it really looked like Ruri would win." Hokuto says.

"Yeah and now Yugo has it set up so he can perform another synchro summon. Boy do I want to challenge him." Yaiba grins.

"Still, I wonder what Ruri meant when she said Yugo might use xyz?" Masumi ponders. She then notices that Mieru has not only been silent since the duel started but she keeps gazing into her crystal apple. "Do you have anything to say about this duel, fortune teller?"

"It's so odd." Mieru says still looking through her apple. "I see three souls in both of them. They're obviously Darling, Yuzu, and the counterparts they mentioned, but ever since the duel started, Ruri and Yugo have both been covered by this strange and powerful energy. They're both vaguely shaped like people like they're each inside another person's soul."

"What's she talking about?" Yaiba asks Hokuto.

"How should I know?"

"Well you believe in astrology so I thought you would know what she's talking about."

"Astrology is not the same thing as what she's into."

"My turn and I draw. I summon Speedroid Den Den Daiko Duke." Yugo plays.

Speedroid Den Den Daiko Duke. Level: 3. Wind. Machine/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000.

"Now I tune my duke to my Menko. Shots fired at such breathtaking speeds, they strike to ensure victory! Synchro summon! Level 7! Hi-Speedroid Long Shot Darts!" Appearing from the pillar of light shot through the rings and stars of the tuning is a revolving gun with long darts loaded in it.

Hi-Speedroid Long Shot Darts. Level: 7. Wind. Machine/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 1800. Defense: 2600.

"Now, when Long Shot Darts is synchro summoned, I can pick a monster I control and all other monsters with attack less than it are destroyed. In addition, card effects can't be activated in response to it. I pick Hi-Speedroid Long Shot Darts." Yugo's monster releases a barrage of darts that hit Assembled Nightingale, since it's the only monster weaker than Long Shot Darts, leaving Ruri open for a direct attack.

"When a xyz monster I control is destroyed then I can activate this trap card. Go, Complete Turn of Orbit!" Ruri declares. "For each overlay unit that was on Assembled Nightingale, I gain 400 life points and your monsters all lose 400 attack points. She had six so that's 2400."

Ruri: 3900 life points.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. Attack: 100.

Hi-Speedroid Long Shot Darts. Attack: 0.

"Alright, Yugo. Go ahead and do it." Ruri tells the synchro resident with a smile.

"Huh. I don't know what you're talking about?" Yugo playfully pretends to act oblivious.

"Don't act cute around me. You're not Yuto. We both know what's coming next."

"Yeah you're right. I overlay my level 7 Clear Wing Synchro Dragon with my level 7 Hi-Speedroid Long Shot Darts." The LDS trio are shocked that Yugo can do both synchro and xyz summoning, while Mieru sees the energy around him grow bigger. "Dragon of incredible speeds break the light spectrum to perform what seems impossible! Xyz summon! Rank 7! Clear Wing Refraction Dragon!"

The new form for Yugo's signature dragon has it gain black armor with its wings made of light of multiple colors with the same light radiating from different parts of its body.

Clear Wing Refraction Dragon. Rank: 7. Wind. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500. Overlay Units: 2.

"Clear Wing Refraction Dragon attack Ruri directly. Spiral Spectrum Strike." Clear Wing Refraction Dragon spins around in various light colors and hits Ruri for massive damage.

Ruri: 900 life points.

"My turn. Draw. Since I have no monsters on my field, I special summon Lyrilusc – Turquoise Warbler. When I special summon her, I get to summon a Lyrilusc monster from my hand or graveyard so I pick the one I sent earlier thanks to Kyanite Warbler. Come forth, Lyrilusc – Aquamarine Indigobird." Ruri summons a bird girl in dark blue and bright orange.

Lyrilusc – Aquamarine Indigobird. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 100.

Lyrilusc – Turquoise Warbler. Level: 1. Wind. Winged-Beast/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

As Aquamarine Indigobird was special summoned, Ruri can now special summon as many level 1 winged-beast-type monsters from her hand or graveyard. She summons Kyanite Warbler, Cobalt Sparrow, and Sapphire Swallow. The former two monsters' effects activate so Ruri adds two Lyrilusc monsters from her deck and sends one of her monsters to the graveyard from the deck.

"I tune Aquamarine Indigobird with my four other Lyrilusc monsters! Elegant songbird fly across the sky leading the flock of awesome abilities! Synchro summon! Level 5! Lyrilusc – Achievement Nightingale!"

Lyrilusc – Achievement Nightingale. Level: 5. Wind. Winged-Beast/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 0.

Ruri's synchro monster has a resemblance to Assembled Nightingale but it has a blue, green, and orange color scheme. Before her monster can show of what it can do, Yugo responds. "As long as Clear Wing Refraction Dragon has a synchro monster attached to him then I can negate the effect of a face up monster during any player's turn."

"Achievement Nightingale was synchro summoned using at least 3 synchro materials so she can't be targeted by card effects. That's not all, for each non-tuner monster used to summon her, she gains 500 attack points."

Lyrilusc – Achievement Nightingale. Attack: 4000.

Ruri attacks Clear Wing Refraction Dragon with Achievement Nightingale. At this point, Yugo removes an overlay unit from his dragon to activate his effect by having Clear Wing Refraction Dragon, once per turn, gain attack equal to the original attack of a level 5 or higher monster on the field until the end of the turn. This brings his monster's attack up to 5000 and higher than Achievement Nightingale.

Yugo feels confident since not only is his monster stronger but if Ruri does manage to destroy Clear Wing Refraction Dragon then on his next turn, he'll activate his face down Descending Lost Star to bring back one of his synchro monsters. After that, he'll banish Den Den Daiko Duke to special summon Mystic-Eyed Dice so it can summon Red-Eyed Dice. He'll change Red-Eyed Dice's level so it and his summoned synchro monster can be used to summon Crystal Wing. Though his plan hits a snag. Ruri's quick-play card.

"I activate from my hand the quick-play magic card Lyrilusc Soul Song. Whenever a Lyrilusc monster battles the opposing monster loses 500 attack points for each Lyrilusc monster in my graveyard."

"That's 9 Lyrilusc monsters! My dragon will be reduced to 500 attack points!" Yugo yelps.

"Actually 10. I special summoned Kyanite Warbler this turn remember so I have one more Lyrilusc monster in my graveyard meaning Clear Wing Refraction Dragon's attack is 0."

Clear Wing Refraction Dragon. Attack: 0.

With Yugo's dragon reduced to nothing, Achievement Nightingale effortlessly defeats it and Yugo with a strong gust of wind.

Yugo: 0 life points. Ruri wins.

"That was a great synchro monster you summoned Ruri." Yugo laughs.

"Thank you. You're monster is definitely strong and you made some good moves." Ruri compliments.

"Well looks like we have some new competition." Masumi notes.

"Especially you, Masumi. I mean if Ruri is suppose to be Yuzu from another dimension and she's that good then imagine how strong Yuzu must have gotten by now." Hokuto teases resulting in Masumi being ticked off.

"That's odd." Mieru says.

"What are you going on about now?" Yaiba asks her.

"Well when Yugo xyz summoned that energy I mentioned earlier got bigger. Then when Ruri synchro summoned, it increased in size again, but now it's completely gone."

Mieru ponders on the phenomenon. When she met Yuya, everything about him was surprising to say the least, but this is something that feels beyond her. It could be related to Zarc but Mieru rules that out since this energy doesn't seem malevolent in any way. She feels stumped, but stops thinking about it when she notices that the three people next to her are gone and instead went to talk to Yugo and Ruri. This makes her yell out, "Hey, don't ignore me!"

 **Notes: These chapters are getting longer.**

 **I decided to change some things around from what I originally planned and have the Yugo and Ruri chapter published now. A few readers really wanted to see how Yugo and Ruri would act around one another so I decided to alter my preplanned order to give the people what they want. Hope those of you wanting to see these two interact enjoyed it. I didn't mind changing things given the episodic structure this fanfic has plus we were down to four pairs when I wrote this so it was easy to do.**

 **The part where Yugo eats mapo tofu (or doufu. Google gave results for both) and doesn't mind the hot and spicy flavor is an inside joke that only I get. In Shokugeki no Soma, there's a character named Terunori Kuga who specializes in cooking Chinese cuisine specifically hot and spicy ones. His personality and appearance really reminds me of Yugo to the point that when he first appeared in the manga, I thought it was Yugo. Really.**


	15. Yuri & Serena pt1

In the morning, the next pair began their day by rolling to the portal hub and other than greeting each other they didn't talk any on the way there. It's Yuri and Serena's day and the situation felt odd to both. Even though some of the counterparts didn't know each other that well or at all before all of this, they still mingled easily with one another. With Yuri and Serena, things just felt weird between them. As they got closer to the hub, Yuri decided to break the silence.

"Fine. I'll say it. This feels awkward."

"Yes there's no denying it. I don't get it, we have met and seen each other before all of this." Serena says.

"True but at the same time we don't know anything about the other." Yuri brings up.

"Probably why things feel weird between us. We're both from the Fusion Dimension and were enrolled into Academy at the same time. Yet unlike the others who formed a meaningful bond with the counterpart from their respective dimension, we don't have that."

"You're right about that." Yuri agrees. "We're not childhood friends like Yuya and Yuzu, we didn't grow up together like Yugo and Rin, and we weren't dating like Yuto and Ruri. We just went to the same school."

"Maybe today will change that somehow."

"Speaking of, why do you want to go to the Fusion Dimension? There's no rule that we have to just because we're both from there."

"Look, I found out about something happening at Academy that interested me and I want to attend it." Serena looks away with some embarrassment as she admits her reasons.

"Ok." Yuri shrugs.

The two fusion residents crossover and on the other side they see Edo, or Chancellor Phoenix as he's now called, and Noro, the vice-chancellor.

"7 minutes! You two are 7 minutes late and for a meeting with the head of the school no less." Noro scolds them while looking at his pocket watch.

"We never said when we were arriving Noroma." Yuri states while insulting Noro with his nickname.

"I averaged out your times of arrival from your last three visits and do not call me Noroma!"

"Calm down Noro." Edo says. "Sorry, he's on edge since it's the weekend. Which for us has become one of the most stressful times of the week."

Serena and Yuri just look curiously at the Edo, who starts looking completely burned out when he said that last sentence. They want to know what he means but Noro forces Edo to head back to his office since he's got to stick to the schedule. So they followed the young head master while he explains to them another change made to Academia.

"Since the students aren't being raised for a war anymore, I decided to throw away Leo Akaba's old schedule for the day to day activities of the school and go with something more traditional for a school year." Edo explains.

"What did you do?" Serena asks.

"He gave the students more off time. On Saturdays and Sundays, the students don't go to classes so they can focus on relaxing, perform activities for their club, or some other activities not in a classroom." Noro tells them.

Edo explains things further. "It's unfortunately added to my workload due to some complaints from students wanting to use some facilities during off hours or just the staff talking about having to deal with controlling them. Anyways you're free to move about Academy to look around or meet up with someone you know. I also reserved a duel arena for you two to use when you want to do your duel. Just promise you'll stay out of any trouble."

When Edo and Noro leave to go to their respective offices for their work, Yuri turns to Serena. "Stay out of any trouble. Did he forget who he was talking to?"

"You are not going to do anything I have to stop are you?" Serena eyes him suspiciously.

"No. I'm just pointing out that we get involved in stuff out of our control a lot."

"Let's go look around the place. The reason I wanted to come here won't happen until around nighttime so we might as find something to kill time."

"Ok now I'm genuinely curious. What is it you want to do here?"

Serena freezes from embarrassment and just tries to brush off any further pushing by saying she'll tell him after their duel. After giving one of the fakest smiles ever, she walks off wishing she was better at lying.

"I don't suppose you three have any idea what she's planning?" Yuri asks his counterparts.

" _I think we all know as much about Serena as you do."_ Yugo says.

" _Plus other than dueling, she said there's nothing really of interest for her when I spent the day with her."_ Yuya brings up.

" _Her wording suggests it's a scheduled event but obviously, none of us know everything that's happening at this school."_ Yuto says.

"Well I doubt she'll pick anything humiliating to do." Yuri says causing the other three to look at each other and think that it probably will be.

Walking around, Serena and Yuri find themselves outside walking on the Academy grounds. The place felt the same as last time when they saw it. An area filled with well kept plants and hedges and students either mingling or having outside duels. While they walked, a number of students recognized Serena and felt curious what she was doing. However, they then become scared when they see Yuri and remember how every time he was around, things became unsettling.

"I think we caught everyone's attention." Serena whispers to Yuri.

"Probably because of our reputations as Leo Akaba's 'special' soldiers." Yuri guesses.

"Nah. They just recognize you two are strong duelists." Turning around, the two fusion counterparts see Sora jump out of the bushes. "Well it's about time you two came together."

"Wait. You're happy to see us?" Yuri asks. Yuri stops feeling confused when his newfound conscious reminds him that he came close to carding Sora in the past. "Sora, before you say anything, I just want you to know that I'm so–."

"If you're going to say you're sorry for almost turning me into a card before Zarc's revival, you don't have to." Sora interrupts his apology. "I got the feeling you changed when Yuya and Yuzu told us about how you guys were now merged with them. The fact that Yuya didn't seemed bothered by the idea of you coming back or even sharing a body with you must've meant you became a better person when everything was restored."

"Yeah. I really don't know what caused it but truth be told, I don't care. I'll take this life over my old one any day since I actually feel satisfied with it."

Hearing Yuri say that gets Serena to smile at how much he has changed. "You know, it's really good to see you act more like this."

Serena decides to give him a playful punch on the arm as a sign of friendship, but she didn't know that when people did that, they hold back. As such, Yuri got knocked down on the ground with his arm in pain.

"Why'd you do that?!" Yuri yells when he got up.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I was just doing what some friends do and give you a friendly punch to the arm." Serena apologizes.

"People who do that don't try to break the other person's arm."

"I didn't know that. I just thought they could take it."

"How could you not know?"

"Well you two are a fun couple." Sora laughs.

"What makes you think we're a couple?" Serena and Yuri simultaneously say.

"Nevermind. Come on let's go see our friends."

This statement baffles Yuri and Serena though Sora explains that he meant some students like himself who knew Yuya and the others who do want to be friends with the two. Especially since they'll need people to help them out around Academy. This made the two feel really touched.

The new group of friends Sora referred to includes Dennis, BB, and Grace and Gloria Tyler.

"Serena! Yuri! Great to see you two again and this time under good circumstances." Dennis greets them.

"It has been a while Dennis." Yuri returns the greeting.

"By the way, tell us when you guys will have your duel. I'm sure you two can do something spectacular since you know Yuya." Grace says feeling giddy over the thought of seeing another fun duel.

"Will you give it a rest Grace? They're not entertainers. Besides those kind of duels aren't that great." Gloria chides her twin.

"Oh then how come all you talked about after seeing Yuya's match with Serena was how wonderful it was?" Grace teases.

"I was merely discussing the skills and strategies they displayed."

"I recall overhearing you say you found Yuya's new fusion monster amazing?" BB mentions.

"Stay out of this BB!"

"Battle Beast why do you want to be friends with us. I don't think Yuri or I ever even talked to you." Serena asks the former savage duelists.

"Call me BB. As for why, I owe a lot to Yuya for helping me. So I want to help out his counterparts and friends anyway I can." BB tells them.

"Heh. Yuya tries to help out people and I wind up being friends with people who have a reputation just as notorious as mine." Yuri smirks before noticing something. "Speaking of, you guys are good duelists, that much I know, so why are the Tyler sisters wearing yellow and BB is in red?"

"Well BB never did much for Academy so his record is pretty much no different than any starting student. As for us, since Grace and I mostly do tag duels, Edo had to half our dueling record out of fairness. The jerk." Gloria answers with clear annoyance at the school's new chancellor.

"Don't laugh at them for that." Serena elbows Yuri to prevent him from making a snide remark. She observed enough of him from his previous days with her counterparts to know he was going to do that.

Serena ignores Yuri's irritation toward her to ask her own question. "By the way, do any of you know where Barrett is? I haven't seen him last time I was here or when Yuzu came a couple of days ago."

"Barrett's gone." Sora says.

"Gone? What happened to him?"

"He and a good chunk of the old faculty left Academy after Edo took over. The Professor hired Barrett and other people with military backgrounds to train us in warfare and combat. When Edo decided to shift Academy's focus to general education and teach dueling that wasn't for combat, those people resigned from the school since they felt they weren't needed. All our old trainers left like Carlile, Shouji, Cobra, Sanders."

"Sanders!" The group freak out when they see BB's reaction to hearing Sanders' name. BB starts breathing heavy and his face looks feral. Grace quickly tries to calm him down.

"No no BB. You misheard because what Sora was talking about was, um, Colonel Sanders. Yeah that's it. He was just telling them why we don't have any fried chicken in the cafeteria."

"Grace that has got to be the worse lie I have ever heard you tell." Gloria says in response to her sister's blatant fib.

As Yuri and Serena look at the situation with confusion and a little fright, Dennis fills them in. "Something you two should know is don't mention _that_ name around BB. He's a pretty good guy now but he's still a little messed up. So whenever he hears that name, he starts to revert back to his old Battle Beast persona. Something Sora should know well."

"I wasn't thinking when I was talking and it slipped my mind." Sora says hoping BB didn't go berserk on them. Fortunately, BB starts breathing normally and calms down causing the group to sigh in relief.

"Next time Sora, warn us about dangerous stuff like this ahead of time." Yuri says before turning to Serena. "I didn't know you were close to Barrett, Serena."

"Not personally, but he did take me to Standard and if he hadn't, I would never have met Yuzu, Yuya, the Lancers or learn the truth about Academy. I would like to thank him for that." Serena says.

She then thought of one other person from here and she needed to know his status. "One more thing, do any of you know if the Doktor is still here?"

"Actually, there's a good chance he's in a jail cell." Dennis says causing the bracelet girls to feel happy that there's some justice in the world. "From what I know, it was found out that he has some history performing experiments unethically and some were done illegally. When Chancellor Phoenix discovered this, he had the police from the mainland come to arrest him."

" _I knew the Professor was desperate for his plan to work, but I didn't think he was that desperate."_ Yuri thinks to himself.

With all of this known, Yuri and Serena start hanging out with their new group of friends. The two learned more about some of the stuff done at Academy now from the students' point of view and what they've been up to. The five have mostly been doing regular school activities that they've found interesting or curious about. They mention how they want to enjoy it as much as possible since the school is still in a transition period from Leo to Edo's tenure so there's a lot of freedom for the students to do stuff until things get ironed out.

Yuri and Serena told them about what they and their own counterparts have been doing during their multiple day attempt to separate, which includes stuff none of them knew like how Yugo and Rin are now dating. Given the relationship statuses of their other dimensional selves, the question of whether or not Yuri and Serena are now dating naturally comes up. They, of course, debunk this since, as they put it, the two just haven't spent enough time together to develop feelings for one another. This prompts Sora to ask this question.

"So if you two do know each other better does that mean you will start dating?"

"That's not what we meant!" Serena blushes furiously.

"What we meant was that, unlike our counterparts, we just don't know each other that well. That's all." Yuri states with the same blush on his face.

"It doesn't sound like you two are denying it." Dennis starts teasing.

"Can we please drop this stupid subject?" Yuri implores them with irritation.

"I wonder what dates between Serena and Yuri would be like?" Grace asks her sister.

"You're assuming they know how to date." Gloria remarks.

"We said drop it!" Both fusion counterparts yell.

After a little more teasing that just left the two more annoyed or anything, Serena and Yuri decide to have their duel so they go to Edo to find out which duel arena he reserved. Because the duel arenas the students use are all in the same general area, Sora and the others go ahead to where they are while the two fusion duelists go to Edo's office.

As they walk, Serena stops Yuri. "Hey, Yuri. There's something I need to tell you."

With the talk earlier about the possibility that Yuri and Serena could develop feelings, it causes their counterparts to start making assumptions.

" _She's not going to do what I think she's going to do is she?"_ Rin asks.

" _Serena admitted she and Yuri don't have that close of a connection so why would she?"_ Yuzu says.

" _But it's not like they haven't learned more about the other from the previous days they've been in control."_ Ruri points out.

"What is it, Serena?" Yuri says.

"First, I'm assuming your counterparts are thinking I'm about to do a love confession or something?"

"They obviously forgotten that I can hear every word they say perfectly and are openly discussing it yes."

"Well, I'm not. Actually, what I want to say isn't just toward you but also Yuzu, Rin, Ruri, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuya." This gets all of their attention as they listen to what Serena's about to say.

"I just want to say thank you. When I brought up Barrett earlier, I realized that I should really thank all of you. I've been closed off from the world when I came to Academy and the Professor put me under watch. Then when I started meeting you guys as well as so many others, and spent time with all of you these past couple of weeks, I started feeling real enjoyment. I'm aware I don't openly display my emotions that much, but trust me, I just want all of you to know that I enjoyed the time spent with everyone and all of our other friends. So thank you for that."

Yuri gives her a big genuine smile. "I think on behalf of everyone, I can say you're welcome. And if you enjoy the time spent, I guarantee you our duel today will be something you'll really love."

"If it's from you then I expect it to be."

After their talk, the two found out which duel arena Edo reserved for them and headed off with their friends watching the duel. Unlike the gym or the stadium Serena used last time, the duel arena Yuri and Serena are using is a small auditorium with a regular sized duel field used for classes or personal duels. Yuri and Serena have their duels discs ready and start.

Yuri: 4000 life points.

Serena: 4000 life points.

Serena takes the first move. "I play the field magic card Lunalight Ballroom." Her magic card transforms the plain duel field into a breathtaking ballroom with moon themed décor. The Tyler sisters find it very pretty though Gloria won't admit it out loud.

"As long as this card is on the field, all Lunalight monsters gain 300 attack points and I can fusion summon a Lunalight monster once per turn. I'll fuse the Lunalight Blue Cat, Lunalight Purple Butterfly, and Lunalight Black Sheep in my hand. Blue cat that prowls through the darkness! Butterfly with violet poison! The beast lurking in jet black darkness! Swarm into the vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 8! Lunalight Leopard Dancer!"

Lunalight Leopard Dancer. Level: 8. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2700 (now 3000). Defense: 2100.

Serena's summoned monster is a woman with indigo skin woman wearing a leopard pattern strapless top and feline clawed gloves and boots with long black hair. Since Leopard Dancer gained attack points thanks to Lunalight Ballroom, Serena gets to draw a card and Lunalight Black Sheep's effect activates to add Purple Butterfly back to her hand from the graveyard. After setting a card, Serena ends her turn.

"It's my turn. I draw and I play a card facedown." Yuri sets a card in his magic/trap zone making everyone wondering what he's up to. "Next I summon Predaplant Squid Drosera."

Predaplant Squid Drosera. Dark. Level: 2. Plant/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 400.

"Now I play Polymerization so I can fuse the Predaplant Squid Drosera on my field with the Predaplant Butterwort Ape in my hand. Two beautiful flowers with an insect alluring fragrance! Bring forth a new flower that hungers! Fusion summon! Level 7! Predaplant Chimerafflesia!"

Predaplant Chimerafflesia. Level: 7. Dark. Plant/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

When Yuri's man-eating rafflesia appears on the field, Lunalight Leopard Dancer gets struck by a predator counter. "When Squid Drosera leaves the field everyone of your special summoned monsters gets a predator counter put on them. This will reduce your monster's level to 1."

Lunalight Leopard Dancer. Level: 1. Predator Counter.

"Now I can activate Chimerafflesia's effect. I banish one monster on the field with a level less than it." Yuri boasts.

"You could, however, Leopard Dancer can't leave the field by any of my opponent's card effects. If you want to get rid of her, you have to do it by battle." Serena informs Yuri, who just smirks.

"Ok I will. First, since Predaplant Butterwort Ape was sent to the graveyard as a material, I can activate my set Predaplanet on the turn it was set. Now, Predaplant Chimerafflesia attack Lunalight Leopard Dancer." Serena's surprised Yuri would perform a suicide attack but soon finds out why. "Chimerafflesia has another effect. Whenever it and an opponent's monster battle, it gains 1000 attack points until the end phase and the opposing monster will lose a 1000 attack points."

Predaplant Chimerafflesia. Attack: 3500.

Lunalight Leopard Dancer. Attack: 2000.

"I discard Lunalight Purple Butterfly from my hand so that I can increase Leopard Dancer's attack by a 1000. Since her attack increased, I get to draw another card." Serena makes her own play. It doesn't stop her Leopard Dancer from getting destroyed by one of Chimerafflesia's plant-like maws but it reduces the damage and she got to draw.

Serena: 3500 life points.

"Since I destroyed a monster with a predator counter on it, Pledaplanet activates to let me add a Predap card from my deck to my hand. The card I add is Predaprison." Yuri says.

"And since Leopard Dancer was destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon as many monsters from my graveyard that were used for her fusion summoning." Serena states so she can summon all three monsters that were used.

Lunalight Blue Cat. Level: 4. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1600 (now 1900. Defense: 1200.

Lunalight Purple Butterfly. Level: 3. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1000 (now 1300). Defense: 1000.

Lunalight Black Sheep. Level: 2. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Effect. Attack: 100 (now 400). Defense: 600.

"Hmm. This could be a problem. I set a card facedown and end my turn." Yuri makes his move before passing things off to Serena.

"My turn. Draw. And this is where you activate Predaprison, right?" Serena guesses.

"Now what makes you think my set card is Predaprison, Serena?" Yuri acts dumb.

"It obviously is. Why else search for a card that limits what your opponent does."

"Can't you be like other duelists and wait for me to activate it at a moment that'll throw you off guard?"

"How can I when I know you have it?"

"True, but that's no excuse to ruin a guy's fun. I activate Predaprison and now you can only special summon monsters once per turn during either of our turns."

What surprises Yuri is that after he activated his trap, Serena gives off a mischievous smirk. "Now that you confirmed it, I play Fusion Tag. With this magic card, I pick Lunalight Blue Cat and make her name become Lunalight Cat Dancer this turn. Now I use my ballroom's effect to fuse her and Black Sheep together. The beautiful beast that dances in the moonlight! The beast lurking in jet black darkness! Swarm in the vortex of the moon's gravity and become a new power! Fusion summon! Level 8! Lunalight Panther Dancer!"

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Level: 8. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 2800 (now 3100). Defense: 2500.

"Now that my panther has appeared, I can end things." Serena declares. "Since Black Sheep was used to fusion summon her, I get to add my Blue Cat back to my hand. Now I'll get rid of your traps by selecting Panther Dancer so I can activate Fusion Hurricane. She was summoned using two materials so both Predaplanet and Predaprison are destroyed."

After his two traps were destroyed, Yuri responds with a blank expression. "I don't know how destroying them will take care of Chimerafflesia since it can strengthen itself and weaken your monster?"

"Since I'm no longer restricted by how many times I can special summon, I can use Purple Butterfly to her fullest." Serena says. "First, I'll send her to the graveyard so Panther Dancer can gain 1000 attack points."

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Attack: 4100.

"Next, I banish Lunalight Purple Butterfly to special summon Lunalight Blue Cat from my hand in attack mode. When Blue Cat is special summon I can double Panther Dancer's attack."

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Attack: 8200.

"8200 attack!" Sora shouts from shock.

"Panther Dancer can attack a monster twice so even with Chimerafflesia's effect, he'll lose." Dennis states.

"Even if he stops the damage, Blue Cat can attack directly once his monster's gone." Gloria observes.

"Looks like Serena will win this duel." Grace concludes but BB points something out.

"Unless Yuri makes a surprise play." They all look at BB then go back to watching the duel to see if anything unexpected happens.

"Now, Lunalight Panther Dancer battle Predaplant Chimerafflesia." Lunalight Panther Dancer slashes the carnivorous flower and, despite losing a 1000 attack points and Chimerafflesia gaining them, Yuri takes a colossal amount of damage.

Yuri: 300 life points.

However, what surprises everyone is that Predaplant Chimerafflesia gets destroyed even though Panther Dancer should've prevented it so it could do a second attack. Then predator counters fly out and attach themselves to Serena's monsters, Serena spots a small non-corporeal brown and green ape with a pink flower growing out of its head holding onto Panther Dancer, and Yuri's Predaplant Nepen Leviathan has appeared.

Lunalight Panther Dancer. Attack: 7200. Level: 1. Predator Counter.

Lunalight Blue Cat. Level: 1. Predator Counter.

Predaplant Nepen Leviathan. Level: 8. Dark. Plant/Effect. Attack: 0 (now 4900). Defense: 3600.

"If all of you are wondering what just happened, I simply banished Predaplant Butterwort Ape, which is the monster on Panther Dancer. When a Predaplant battles a monster, I can banish my ape from the graveyard to negate the opposing monster's effect hence why Chimerafflesia was destroyed." Yuri explains.

"Also since I took damage that meant, I could special summon Predaplant Nepen Leviathan from my hand. Since he was summoned this way every monster on Serena's side gets a predator counter. Plus he gains attack equal to the damage I took and an additional 600 for each predator counter on the field."

"So close. I place a card face down and end my turn."

"My turn. I draw and since Chimerafflesia was destroyed, I get to add a fusion card to my hand from my deck on my standby phase." When Yuri adds his chosen card, he starts getting a big smile. If it wasn't for the fact that there's no sadistic glee behind it, Serena would probably be scared, but for now, she was on the defensive.

"First I attack your cat with my Leviathan." Lunalight Blue Cat gets destroyed by Nepen Leviathan. Fortunately, Serena avoids any damage by discarding Lunalight Cyan Turtle to reduce the damage to 0. Blue Cat's effect activates so Serena summons a Lunalight Purple Butterfly from her deck onto the field in attack position.

Predaplant Nepen Leviathan. Attack: 4300.

"Serena before I continue my play, I got to ask you something." Yuri says with a playful attitude.

"Uh, what?" Serena looks at him in confusion.

"Can I have your Lunalight Panther Dancer?"

"No! Where's this conversation even going?"

"Right here. I discard a card so I can play Super Polymerization!" Everyone of the Academy students knows where this is going as the field gets covered by a fusion vertex that sucks in Nepen Leviathan and Panther Dancer. "Elegant beast dancing in the moonlit wilderness! Sweet smelling flower that invites the abyss! Now become one, and indulge in whatever pleases you! Fusion summon! Level 10! Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon!"

Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon. Level: 10. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3300. Defense: 2500.

"Now I activate Greedy Venom's effect to reduce your butterfly's attack to 0 and I attack it." The toxic dragon drastically weakens Serena's monster and fires a charged energy blast that comes close to ending things.

Serena: 200 life points.

With his dragon on the field, Yuri ends his turn by setting a card. Serena begins her turn by drawing and becomes happy by what she sees.

"I activate the magic card Dimensional Polymerization. At the cost of not being able to summon for the rest of this turn, I can banish monsters on my field or in my graveyard to perform a fusion summon so I banish Lunalight Panther Dancer, Lunalight Black Sheep, and Lunalight Cyan Turtle! Elegant beast dancing in the moonlit wilderness! The beast lurking in jet black darkness! Turtle with an indestructible shell! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 10! The king of beasts dancing atop the summit of moonlit wilderness! Lunalight Leo Dancer!

Lunalight Leo Dancer. Level: 10. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3500 (now 3800). Defense: 3000.

With the attack boost from Lunalight Ballroom, Serena prepares to attack and end things but Yuri manages to last a little longer. He banishes his Predaprison so that Leo Dancer will get a predator counter then he activates his face down trap card Predator's Gaze. Now all monsters with predator counters on them can't attack or activate their effects, and since neither of those effects targets, Leo Dancer couldn't be protected by it. Since she can't attack or summon, Serena is forced to end her turn.

Yuri begins his turn by drawing. "Alright now I play my Dimensional Polymerization and I'm going to fuse Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon with the Predaplant Chimerafflesia in my graveyard. Dragon that indulges in all of its desires! Sweet smelling flower that invites the abyss! Combine your dark aspirations of power to become an unspeakable force! Fusion summon! Level 12! Dragon that desires all! Tempting Venom Fusion Dragon!

The newest evolution of Yuri's signature dragon is red and covered in purple armor-like parts on its limbs, head, and parts of its torso with dark blue horns coming from parts of its body. The two appendages on its back resemble a mix of a carnivorous plant and a dragon's head.

Tempting Venom Fusion Dragon. Level: 12. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3800. Defense: 3000.

"Now I activate Tempting Venom's effect. I pick one other monster on the field and he'll gain the name and effect of that monster along with attack points equal to said monster until the end of the turn so I pick Lunalight Leo Dancer to gain all of her power."

Tempting Venom Fusion Dragon. Attack: 7600.

"Now Tempting Venom Fusion Dragon attack Leo Dancer!" At Yuri's orders, Tempting Venom Fusion Dragon's flower-like appendages open up to release a wave of purple energy at Leo Dancer

"Leo Dancer was fusion summoned using Lunalight Cyan Turtle so any battle damage I take from battles involving her becomes 0." Serena informs Yuri.

"But your monster is still destroyed."

The attack destroys Serena's monster but she still survived. However, Tempting Venom still had a second attack thanks to Leo Dancer's effect so Serena activates her trap card Last Dance in Lunalight. The card brings back Lunalight Leo Dancer in defense mode since it was destroyed. It can't be destroyed by card effects or battle this turn, but Leo Dancer's attack and defense are now 0 and her effects have been negated.

"Well looks like you survive this turn. I end my turn, but just as a warning between friends Serena, if Tempting Venom Fusion Dragon is destroyed and sent to the graveyard then every card on your side will be destroyed. And the destruction can't be negated." Yuri tells Serena.

Serena feels in a bind since her only monster is useless and the only card in her hand is Lunalight White Rabbit. When she draws her card, Serena's completely surprised by what she drew but then smiles.

"Thank you for the duel Yuri, but now it's over. I discard a card in order to play Super Polymerization!"

Everyone's jaw drops when Serena played Super Polymerization. As the floor gets covered in the swirling vortex, Serena starts chanting. "The king of beasts that dances atop the summit of moonlit wilderness! Dragon of dark aspirations that desires all! Swarm in a vortex of the moon's gravity and revive with a new power! Fusion summon! Level 9! Lunalight Wolverine Dancer!"

Lunalight Wolverine Dancer. Level: 9. Dark. Beast-Warrior/Fusion/Effect. Attack: ?. Defense: ?.

From the vortex is a blue skinned woman in a white skimpy dancer's outfit that has three long blades on each glove and wild black hair.

"Lunalight Wolverine Dancer's original attack and defense becomes the combined original attack of the Lunalight and fusion monster used for her summon. Even with the boost from Lunalight Ballroom, this makes her more than enough to end the duel."

Lunalight Wolverine Dancer. Attack: 7600. Defense: 7300.

Serena declares a direct attack with her monster who delivers a graceful but deadly slash attack on Yuri.

Yuri: 0 life points. Serena wins.

When the solid vision vanishes, Serena goes up to Yuri to offer to help him up after that last attack.

"That was rude Serena. If you wanted to borrow my dragon all you had to do was ask. I mean I asked for your monster?" Yuri jokes.

When Serena hears this, she bursts out laughing. The sight of the usually cold Serena laughing uncontrollably and the formerly cruel Yuri feeling actual enjoyment despite losing a duel surprises Sora and the others. The two have changed for the better.

"Now then since our duel is over what was this thing you wanted to attend at Academy?"

Serena stops laughing and becomes nervous. However, she did promise to tell Yuri after their duel, and while she didn't want to admit it, a part of her really wanted to spend as much time together with him as possible for today.

"You know how on my first day out, the one where Yugo and I went to that roller rink, I said I used to be into dancing?"

"I believe I recall that. It didn't come as that big of a surprise to me given your deck's motif. Why?"

"Well I decided that I want to get back into dancing and last time I was here, I saw a flyer saying Academy's having a school dance tonight and I want to go." Serena sheepishly confesses.

"Ok that sounds fine." Yuri easily accepts.

"Wait, you're alright with staying here for awhile just so I can practice dancing?"

"I guess I'm getting more lax with things. Besides since we're going to be coming back to this school, it's probably best you find something other than dueling to interest you and I don't want to hold my friends back. Especially since I have three consciouses that share a syllable with my name who'd most likely guilt trip me if I say no."

"Thank you, Yuri."

"Though what I don't get is why is it at night?"

"Yeah, and what's odd is that the flyer said it was only happening tonight. Why would that be?"

At this point, Yuya, Yuzu, Yuto, and Ruri, who have been to a dance or two, start explaining that a school dance isn't the same as dance classes as what they were thinking. They tell them how it's a scheduled gathering for the students to come have fun dancing be it to fast up beat music or slow music for couples to dance to. They also brought up how people tend go either with a group of friends or with a date. The last part prompts Yugo and Rin to ask if that means Yuri and Serena are going to go on a date. After learning all of this, Yuri and Serena both had the same response.

"GAAAHHH!"

"There's no way I'm doing something as potentially embarrassing as that!" Yuri says with a deep blush.

"I seriously thought it was just dance lessons but it's actually that. Let's just forget the whole thing and do something else for the rest of the day." Serena suggests with an equally red blush.

However, when they turn to walk off the duel field, they see their new group of friends with evil smiles on their faces from what they just heard.

"I forgot they were here." Serena gulps.

"So that's what it's like to be on the other end of that smile." Yuri remarks with a little fear in his voice.

 **Note: This may be the longest chapter of the fic. Despite wanting these chapters to be episodic, I decided to split Yuri and Serena's day into two chapters for pacing purposes and to give more development for them given the complete lack in the anime. It should be up very quickly since I had the school dance planned out for a while and there won't be a duel so that'll make things easier for me.**


	16. Yuri & Serena pt2

When Yuri and Serena went back to Academy for their day together, Serena wanted to go to attend a school dance being held. Yuri was ok with it when she told him about it, but then the two found out what a school dance really was and they decided to drop it. Unfortunately, their new group of friends didn't want them to do that.

After seeing them give of smiles that said they were planning something bad, Yuri and Serena tried to run out of the duel arena as fast as possible to avoid whatever thoughts entered their minds. Too bad for them, BB's superior strength and speed made it so he could easy catch them both to be carried off in no time. Dennis and Sora decided to take care of what Yuri will need for tonight while Gloria and Grace will help fix up Serena.

Night came and Yuri is waiting in the gym lobby wearing a dark purple suit with a red tie. The male fusion counterpart has a look of misery on his face for multiple reasons. Not only did Dennis, Sora, and BB practically force the suit on him, but there was the fact that social events like these were something he had no experience with. It didn't help that his counterparts found the whole situation hilarious.

Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo meant no ill will to Yuri but seeing a former enemy go through this was just too funny to them.

"I'm in Hell. That's the only explanation. I have somehow died or been cursed by a demon to spend the rest of my days in Hell attending this dance." Yuri concludes with exaggerated results.

"Don't you think you're being over dramatic a bit? Seriously, this is far from the worse thing ever." Sora says. He has on black dress pants and a blue suit vest with a matching bow tie over a white button up shirt. He also has a sucker in his mouth since he's not going to stop eating candy just because he's dressed nice.

"You're right. I could look like Dennis." Yuri looks over at Dennis wearing an all white suit along with a matching top hat, shoes, and even gloves. Dennis didn't hear them since he was performing magic tricks for some girls who are clearly into him.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" BB asks. He's wearing a simple black suit with a tie that matches his hair. The sight of the former Battle Beast wearing formal attire and having his long hair well kempt still baffles Yuya who can't help but compare his current image to his old one.

"Until the girls get here then the fun will start." Sora says.

"By the way Sora, why do you have a camera with you?" Yuri asks just now noticing that Sora had a digital camera around his neck.

"Oh I volunteered to take some pictures of the dance. Edo wants to see how the students act at the dance to see if there should be more in the future."

"More of these!" Yuri gets shocked by the idea then turns to BB. "How can you handle the school becoming like this?"

"Simple. I never liked Academy's old ways. I just acted like an animal to protect myself."

After Yuri continues to anticipate the worse, the Tyler Sisters arrive. Grace and Gloria enter with their hair up and wearing long dresses of matching style with Gloria in gold and Grace in silver. Dennis goes over to his friends when he sees their arrival.

"You guys all look great." Grace compliments.

"I'll say. You even got Yuri into a suit." Gloria says with Yuri deciding to ignore that comment. "Though you guys should see Serena."

Serena appears from behind the sisters looking very different from the tomboy everyone's used to seeing. She's in a red dress with a yellow sash belt around her waist. The dress goes to just above her ankles to show that she's wearing formal heels. Shockingly, is Serena's hair is done in the same elegant style as Gloria and Grace's and she's even wearing make up.

Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo all comment that she looks amazing though that's partially because they easily imagine their own respective girlfriends looking similar. Even Yuri is caught staring at Serena by everyone else and they wonder what he may do or say.

"Serena." Yuri goes up to her.

"What is it?" Serena asks while her counterparts listen.

" _Could he be?"_ Rin wonders.

" _He might?"_ Ruri guesses.

" _He might just."_ Yuzu anticipates what Yuri will say.

"What's all that stuff on your face?"

And everybody except for Serena prat falls when Yuri makes that comment.

" _Idiot!"_ Sora, Dennis, Grace, Gloria, and BB all think to themselves.

" _Of course he would say something like that."_ Yuzu groans.

" _Are we responsible for anything Yuri does tonight?"_ Yuto asks.

" _No."_ Yuya and Yugo simultaneously answer.

" _Good."_

"It's make-up. Gloria and Grace forced this stuff on me for what felt like hours." Serena responds with visible irritation.

"Well if you didn't try to fight it so much it wouldn't have taken that long." Gloria chides.

"Regardless, we're all here now." Serena says.

"Good. Let's get this over with." Yuri says as he heads to go into the gym.

However, Dennis puts a hand on Yuri's shoulder. "Not yet. Now that everyone's here, it's time for some friendly group pictures."

"Of course, it is."

The picture taking part of the night had a very rocky start since Serena and Yuri still weren't over their frustration that their new friends forced all of this on them. It didn't help that Sora kept telling them to smile and whenever they forced one, he'd chastising them for looking fake. This led to Yuri and Sora getting into a verbal fight, which somehow got Serena to kind of lighten up since she felt this would be something that would naturally happen. Yuri agreed with Serena and the two for a moment were able to smile more naturally. Which resulted in Sora taking a picture of them and deciding that they could go into the gym now.

The group goes into the gym, which has been given lovely decorations with primary colors obviously to match the school's ranks. Some of the faculty take care of job as chaperones and the gym had clearly been divided up so a good section would act as the dancer floor while the rest would have tables, chairs, and a couple of tables for food.

Because of Sora's arguments with Yuri and Serena about not being photogenic, they missed the first song but made up for it on the second one, which was a fast song. Unfortunately for Yuri, this only exacerbates him further since BB had to effortlessly drag him onto the dance floor to participate with them.

"Why are you guys forcing me to do this?" Yuri questions.

"What did you say?" BB responds raising his voice since the music is pretty loud.

"I said why am I being dragged out here? I don't know how to dance and I don't want to." Yuri shouts so they can hear.

"Because if we don't drag you on here, you'll just skulk away somewhere." Sora says also with a high volume in his voice.

"Besides you don't have to be good at dancing to have fun here. You just have to try to have fun like Serena." Dennis points out. Yuri looks over to Serena who seems to trying to get some kind of rhythm in her step.

" _Something about the way she moves. I think I've seen it before._ " Yuri ponders on what Serena's doing until he sees her trip on her own feet. He quickly moves to catch her.

"Well you don't have to prove that you're out of practice." Yuri states as he help her back on her feet.

"I'm not used to these stupid shoes." Serena claims. "Besides I'm self taught so I'm imitating moves I've seen before."

"That makes no sense. Given how you were moving, it must've been some moves you've seen many times and when could you have watched people dance any time?" Yuri questions her before he realizes where he's seen the dance moves Serena was trying to mimic. "Your monsters."

"What."

"You were copying the same moves your Lunalight monsters do whenever they're summoned or make an attack. Oh man that's just hilarious. Do you dress up like them too when you practice." Yuri teases the moon-themed duelist.

Serena responds to Yuri's mockery by throwing a punch at him, but his reflexes help him dodge quickly.

The music stops and this gets their attention. When the next song plays, it's softer and slower, and remembering what was told about slow songs, they decide to leave the dance floor. This is stopped when the two get dragged around again with Grace and Dennis making Yuri and Serena respectively slow dance with them.

The dance between them is simply platonic though Yuri suspects that Grace is doing it since it's the closest she will have to dancing with Yuya. Serena actually felt ok with the situation since Dennis let her practice getting her steps down.

After that dance, Yuri was able to leave the dance floor and get a drink of punch.

"So what do you think of the dance so far?" Sora asks snacking on some food.

"I don't know but I can tell you how irritated I am for being treated like a rag doll so far." Yuri responses before gulping down his drink. "Though I do wonder how Serena's feeling about this."

"Oh." Sora gives a cat smile. "Why would you wonder about how she's feeling?"

"Because she's my friend. Get those thoughts about us out of your head."

"Well you can ask her yourself because she's coming over here."

Serena walks over to get a drink of something too before Yuri asks her how she's feeling about all of this.

Serena's responds. "Well it's not something I'm used to but I don't regret coming here."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know but I think I'm enjoying it. Maybe more once I get the hang of things." Serena smiles.

"I see. We'll probably get the hang of things and this dance might not be so bad." After he said that another slow song started and Yuri and Serena found themselves pulled onto the dance floor by Gloria and BB. Apparently, it was their turns now.

"Though I wish I wasn't dragged around by everyone." Yuri mutters.

Things did progressively become more enjoyable for the two fusion counterparts once they got the hang of things. Serena did show that she's a pretty good dancer and seemed to be having the most fun. Yuri did start loosening up though that was because everyone wasn't making him do stuff so it helped him stopped being a grouch.

Yuri and Serena found themselves slow dancing together more often since their friends were more popular with the other students and kept getting offers to dance. The first dance Serena and Yuri had was not good to say the least.

"Quit stepping on my toes Yuri."

"It's hard not to Serena when you keep moving me around."

"I'm leading. You don't know how to dance so I'm making sure we're stable."

"Wait shouldn't I be the lead?"

"Like I said, you don't know how to dance so you'd mess it up."

"Says the girl who almost fell on the first song."

Things started calming down between them since all the fast songs burned off any anger they've felt and once Yuri figured out how to do the basic movements, the slow dances felt fine.

As the dance progressed, there were a few noteworthy moments such as how some guys started to surround Serena while she was resting for a dance. Yuri scared them off with his intimidating presence and kept them at bay by saying he's dancing with her next.

"You know I could've handle them myself." Serena retorts.

"Oh I didn't do that to save you from them." Yuri says. "I was saving them from you. Seriously, the last thing we need is you knocking people out."

Another was when Dennis later got Yuri involved in a conga line.

"Come on Yuri, they're forming a conga line." Dennis cheers.

"A conga what?" It was an amusing sight but Serena decided to pull him out of it so Yuri wouldn't explode.

Around the halfway point of the dance, Yuri feels exhausted. He finds a bench a good distance from all the activity and takes off his jacket and tie before sitting down. The moment he felt like relaxing, Serena walks up.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Considering we're suppose to spend the day together, do I have a choice?"

"Truthfully. I don't care because I need to take a break." Serena sits down next to him and removes her shoes. "How come I have to wear these kind of shoes? They're killing my feet."

"Just be lucky no one's forcing you to wear a tie. They're a literal pain in the neck after a while." Yuri points out.

The two slump back to rest when Yuri brings something up. "Serena, what do you think our lives would've been like if the Professor never came to Academy?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know? Hypothetically, what if Leo Akaba accepted that his home and daughter were gone and he settled with his new family or he never remembered his old life or anything that would make it so that he couldn't start the dimensional war."

"Well we would obviously meet since we came to Academy at about the same time. Chances are possible that we'd form some kind of bond given Ray's plan."

Hearing the name of the one who defeated Zarc and was a major reason for everything that happened piques Yuri's curiosity. "Wait. What are you talking about?"

"Oh that's right. None of us told you guys." Serena realizes. "You see when Yuzu, Rin, Ruri, and I merged together for the Arc Project and were in Ray's body, we saw some of her memories. We didn't see everything about her life. Some stuff we saw included Ray sacrificing herself to stop Zarc in the Professor's place and a few memories of her watching Zarc's duels before he became evil."

"I see but what was this about a plan exactly?"

"Ray knew Zarc would probably come back later since the En cards don't destroy people. She decided to be the one that would defeat Zarc since she didn't want the Professor to sacrifice himself. Her logic being that she was just a pro-duelist and there's plenty of those, but his genius would be needed to help the world when Zarc's defeated."

"Bit of an oversight on her part since he started a war."

"The other reason she faced Zarc was she knew she would be in the same situation as him and wanted to use that to stop him from trying to become one again."

"By the way, in the future, never say 'we will become one' or variations of that phrases. Me and the other guys still feel very uncomfortable hearing or thinking about it."

"Sorry. As I was saying, Ray wanted to stop him by sending me and my counterparts to areas where you boys would be when the dimensions split so that we could find each other. When that happened, we'd prevent any chance of Zarc's revival because our bracelets would send one of you guys away when one of your counterparts were nearby."

"We kind of figured that's what that vanishing acts purpose was a long time ago."

"Ray also wanted her counterparts to befriend Zarc's counterparts in each of their respective dimensions."

"Wait what? Why would she want to do that given what he did and what we could do?" This statement baffled Yuri though Serena did provide an explanation.

"As I said, some of Ray's memories included watching some of Zarc's duels. He didn't start off evil at all. He just made some mistakes that led to making bad choices and eventually he warped into what everyone remembers him as. So she wanted us to form a strong connection with you guys in the hopes that you wouldn't well you know."

"Want to turn evil. You can say that. Well to me at least." Yuri thinks about what was just said and turns the conversation back to his original question.

"If Academy wasn't so militarized and we'd be allowed to spend as much time as we could together, I'd say I would seek you out due to my own curiosity." Serena speculates. "I would hear rumors about a student that's the same age as me who's super strong and would probably find you then challenge you to a duel to prove my own merits."

"Yeah and then you would lose." Yuri states.

"I wouldn't lose." Serena protests.

Yuri gives a cocky smirk. "Please, I came from a well off family that could afford me a powerful deck plus I always used Starving Venom since the day I learned how to fusion summon. Compared to whatever deck you could've made from your time at a foster home and that we were new and inexperienced students at this school, I would've mopped the floor with you."

"Now I wish the Professor never came here so I could prove you wrong." Serena pouts.

"However." Yuri says. "Unlike the ones I beaten before, you don't avoid me because of my strength. Actually, you're quite stubborn and have a lot to prove so you challenge me again. Given that no one has ever asked me for a rematch in my life, I accept it. Maybe even with a sense of happiness."

Serena's annoyance gets replaced by investment as she continues to listen to Yuri talk about this what if situation. "From there, the two of us would most likely duel at least once a day. I would keep winning but your desire to be just as good as anyone else would drive you until one day you did defeat me."

"How do you think you'd react to that?"

"Well obviously I would be completely stunned. The only time I ever lost a duel in my life was against Yuya, Yuzu, and you. Though we're talking about a hypothetical situation with this loss. I'd be surprised at first and wonder how you could have defeated me. Not because I was angry or had a hurt pride, but because I would be naturally curious how you got to my level like that."

"I could see you probably begging to have a rematch with me because you'd be afraid that if I could beat you then I would be the strongest duelist our age and wind up just as alone as you were." Serena inserts her own interpretation.

"Oh please like I would think that." Yuri denies though a part of him does believe it and it wasn't from his counterparts.

"Well in this scenario you do. Anyways, I'd accept your rematch and we form some kind of rivalry though it would probably quickly become a friendly one."

"Why would that be?"

"Well, I wouldn't have become that strong if it wasn't for you and we'd both probably become so good that a duel with each other would be the only way we could enjoy dueling."

"Now that's something I could see happening."

The mood shifts from cheerful to sorrow when Serena realizes a major change that would occur in this made up scenario. "Of course, that would also mean we would never meet our counterparts. The Professor was the only person who could bring light to the fact there are four dimensions and different summoning mechanics in each one. If he did, for whatever reason, not go to them then we would never meet Ruri, Yuto, Rin, Yugo, Yuzu or Yuya. We'd also just be fusion summoning and while I prefer that over other styles, I actually like knowing how to synchro, xyz, and pendulum summon."

Yuri sees that Serena is close to crying. He decides to stop it by pointing out a painful truth he also just figured out. "Actually Serena. It's possible we would see them."

"Huh."

"Call me a pessimistic cynic as much as you like, but Ray's plan of keeping us separated and having you girls befriend us is only a temporary solution. While Zarc did start off as a decent person, you never felt the sheer determination and dark desires he had like I did. We're talking about a guy who could not only influence all four of his counterparts into playing some part in his plan, but he could even make someone like Yuya abandon his smile philosophy in order to bring total destruction."

Yuri continues explaining his theory. "Plus, Yugo once told me and the others how he could cross dimensions thanks to his Clear Wing so it's entirely possible Zarc would find a way to get my counterparts and I to meet each other to, well, do I have to say it."

"you make a good point Yuri." Serena admits before adding something that made things seem more optimistic. "However, you forgot one thing. My counterparts and I formed meaningful relationships with you and each of your counterparts. So if Zarc did try to force you guys to go around the dimensions to revive him, we'd try and stop him."

Hearing Serena say that as she showed off a fist of triumph with the hand that has her bracelet on it makes Yuri giggle a little. "You're right. That would definitely happen. There'd probably be some kind of battle that ends with Zarc's defeat and you and I would probably be like the rest of our counterparts and fall in love with each other."

The moment Yuri let that slipped, they both froze and blushed. The atmosphere around them felt really awkward as they thought about that happening. Unlike when they're friends teased them earlier over the same thing, neither was openly denying it to the other.

Yuri was about to say something but Serena beat him to it.

"Yuri. Do you want to kiss me?"

"Wait what?! Where is this coming from Serena?"

"From you stupid. You're the one who brought it up." 

"I was bringing up something that could happen in a made up possibility. You're the one who wants to make out for no reason."

"I asked if you want to kiss me not make out. I was curious if you had any romantic feelings."

"You could've asked me if I would want to have a romantic relationship someday. Not offer your body." At this point, Yuri's response makes Serena feel annoyed.

"I was offering a kiss you pervert!" Serena starts shouting at the equally annoyed Yuri. If it wasn't' for the fact that a very loud and quite well popular song to the students is being played, they would definitely be drawing a crowd.

"Well instead of offering, why don't you just go ahead and do it."

"You know what. I will." Serena cups Yuri's face and forces a kiss on his lips. Yuri became momentarily shocked but then closed his eyes and returns it. Though he wasn't nearly as shocked as any of the other dimensional counterparts watching, who were so surprised by this they just fell silent for a while.

When Serena and Yuri part, they look at each other and performed another kiss. This one was deeper and a little more wild since they wrap their arms around each other. The two only stop their impromptu make out session when they hear a flash go off and turn to see the source.

"Sora!" Both shout as Sora holds up his camera.

"I knew you would get together and I can't wait to show all of Academy this lovely picture of you two." Sora taunts them. This causes them to get furious. At the sight of both Yuri and Serena shooting daggers at him, Sora runs away.

"Sora, get back here." Serena shouts as she and Yuri chase after the shorter duelists. Yuri and Serena quickly learn that Sora is quite fast and agile. They instinctively try to activate their rollerboots to catch up. However, they soon remember that they're rollerboots are attached to the shoes they normally wear and Yuri's in dress shoes while Serena's currently bare foot.

They follow Sora into the lobby though their rage caused both Yuri and Serena to not see that Sora quickly snuck back into the gym after they entered the empty lobby. Sora gets a good distance so he can find a place to hide for a while until he runs into Dennis.

"Hey Sora, Ms. Tenjoin is looking for you. She told me that she saw Yuri and Serena chasing you or something like that."

"Yeah they were. You won't believe it but I took a picture of them doing this." Sora shows the photo on the camera's back screen. Dennis can barely hold back his laughter when he sees the picture.

"What's so funny Mr. Macfield?" Asuka shows up. "Sora, why were Serena and Yuri chasing you?"

"Check this out Ms. Tenjoin." Dennis lets her see the picture and she blushes at the sight of it.

"Sora! Why'd you take of picture of this?" Asuka questions him sternly.

"I saw them talking to each other and then they started kissing so I took a picture to show my friends that they've gotten together. However, I told Yuri and Serena I was going spread it around the whole school. I wasn't really going to. I just wanted to mess with them."

"Ugh. Delete this photo immediately Sora. Seriously, Yuri and Serena are the last people you want to get angry." Asuka chastises Sora.

"Oh please Ms. Tenjoin. With how much Yuri and Serena have changed, I doubt they would want to do any serious harm to Sora." Dennis assures his teacher/chaperone.

Meanwhile, in the lobby, an enraged Yuri screams.

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT BLUE IMP, I'M GOING TO RIP OUT ALL THE CANDY FROM HIS GUT!"

"I don't think he's here." Serena states while looking around. "In fact, he may have slipped out the moment we entered the lobby."

"We've got to get that picture before he shows the school. It's embarrassing and it could be bad for you."

"Wait, why would it be bad for me in particular?"

"Do you really want people to think that you're dating someone like me?"

"What's wrong with dating you?"

"Think about earlier when we were walking on the school grounds. Everybody took a good interest in you but panicked when they saw me. Do you really want to be around or even date a guy with my reputation or past?"

When she heard this, Serena walks up to Yuri with a cold look and starts trying to hit him. Since they both had the same hand-to-hand training, Yuri's able to predict her movements and stop them.

"What are you doing you crazy girl?" Yuri yells at her.

"I'm trying to knock some sense into you. Honestly, do you think I care what a bunch of strangers think about me just because of who I date? Proving my own skills to others is one thing, but this is another." Serena explains then stops trying to hit Yuri. "Besides, I'm angry you actually think everyone will continue to see you as an enemy."

"What?"

"Yuri, you've been making amends for awhile and you actually made some good friends. Sure there's issues with you but we've met a lot of people with their own problems too. If you ask me, I think everyone will see you've become better."

Her words make Yuri feel so happy that he can only think of one way to follow up on it. "Since you don't mind what others think about it then Serena will you be my girlfriend?"

Serena delivers her answer in the form of a hug, which Yuri happily returns. When they separate, Serena notices that the music isn't as loud as it was before meaning it must be a slow song. She asks if he wants to go have a dance and he accepts as they walk back to the gym holding hands smiling.

"We still got to get that picture because it really is embarrassing." Yuri brings up.

"Oh, I agree with you on that."

 **Note: Really glad I decided to split this into two chapters. Yuri and Serena's What If scenario was the thing I had the most fun writing. If anyone wants to take it and write a fic expanding and exploring it go ahead. You have my blessing.**


	17. Yuto & Rin

After coming back to the Sakaki household, Yuri felt jovial. So much so that when Yoko started scolding him for staying out so late, he didn't feel a bit of annoyance with her. Yoko practically saw the other dragon boys as something of adoptive sons to her so Yuri staying out late caused her to act like any other mother would toward her child who would do the same.

"Yuri! What have you and Serena been doing all day? None you boys have ever stayed out this late before. I've been worried sick that something may have happened." Yoko scolds him.

"I'm really sorry Mrs. Sakaki. I would have called you but communications from different dimensions still isn't that good. Serena's thing happened at night and if I'd known what she wanted to do, I would've told you." Yuri apologizes sincerely.

Yoko felt taken aback by the way he talked to her. He made no sarcastic remarks and seemed far more respectful. When he mentioned Serena, Yuri eagerly asks if he can go call her so they can plan the next day. Still feeling baffled from Yuri's different behavior, she agrees. When she sees a bright smile on his face and him running up the stairs to call her, she instantly figured out why he was acting this way. Yoko smiles a bit.

"Ah, young love."

Unfortunately, Yuri's mood quickly returned to irritation the next day because his counterparts would not stop egging him with questions about his feelings to Serena.

" _So did you like Serena when you first met or just now figure it out?"_ Yugo asks in a teasing manner.

" _Enough with the questions Yugo."_ Yuri grumbles.

" _Is she the only thing you can think about?"_

" _I wish then I could ignore you."_

" _Bet that kiss she gave you really shocked you?"_

" _At least I didn't freeze up like a certain buffoon wearing a riding suit."_

" _What did you say!"_

" _Yugo calm down and leave Yuri alone."_ Yuya steps in.

" _Whew. Thank you Yuya."_ Yuri expresses his gratitude.

" _No problem."_ Yuya says before getting a cheshire grin. _"So do you love her?"_

Yuri starts growling at the two making Yuto feel aggravated as well. "Will you three be quiet! I feel like I'm babysitting three brothers who won't stop pestering each other."

"Brothers. That's probably a good way to describe your relationship with them other than counterparts."

Yuto turns to see Rin arrive. She wasn't on Shooting Star because she wanted to ride Ringo today for old times sake.

"Oh hello Rin. The D-Wheel is in the garage so I'll go get it." Yuto greets.

"Thank you. So I take it Yuya and Yugo are bothering Yuri with questions about what happened last night." Rin says.

"Yeah. It was fun at first and I joined in since I still could not believe it. But then it quickly became irritating. It felt like I was thinking three different things all at once and there were moments where I couldn't focus." Yuto explains. "What about you? Is the same thing happening to Serena in your mind?"

Rin gives him a bit of summary of what she had to listen to this morning.

" _So what will you and Yuri do on your first date?"_ Ruri asks.

" _I don't know."_ Serena bluntly says.

" _Did you expect the two of you would start dating?"_ Yuzu asks.

" _No. I didn't."_ Serena replies.

" _When we separate would you two be interested in a double date with Yuto and I?"_ Ruri suggests.

" _Or maybe Yuya and me?"_ Yuzu asks.

" _I don't know what a double date is and stop asking me all these questions!"_ Serena yells.

"And it's been like that all morning." Rin slumps. "I'm happy for Yuri and Serena but being able to hear every word they say in my head feels distracting."

"Well hopefully they'll stop when you start riding so we don't crash." Yuto says as he opens the garage door for the D-Wheel.

"You know I just realized that we're being very casual about the fact that we're having a conversation about voices in our head." Rin brings up.

"After everything I've experienced so far, I no longer care what is and isn't normal." Yuto says.

The two ride off with Rin driving the D-Wheel she and Yugo built and they crossover to the Synchro Dimension. The decision to come here was Yuto's idea since he had some kind of gut feeling about the place not being as great as many think it's becoming. It wasn't from skepticism but rather realism. All four of the dimensions changed for the better in different ways. Standard became Pendulum with the return of their champion Yusho Sakaki, Fusion is raising children for an education and bright future, and Xyz recovers more with every passing day.

However, Synchro felt different to Yuto mainly because it's problems weren't the result of an outside force but issues revolving around society, economy, and authority. It did look like things were going good from what he saw when Yuri, Yuya, and Yugo came here, but he just wants to confirm things personally.

When Yuto brought this up to Rin when discussing what they would do, he was afraid he would offend her, but Rin had no problems whatsoever with his line of thinking. Sure she would never have been able to get invited to a Tops party by Jack Atlas before the changes, but she lived in the City long enough to know that the idea of every problem being fix seemed ridiculous.

"Here's a good spot to stop for now." Rin says after parking Ringo and taking off her helmet.

"So where in the City are we?" Yuto asks. He notices that there are a lot people around including some well-dressed individuals that he assumes to be Tops.

"We're at a connection district of the City. Think of it as a border between the Tops and Commons. These places tend to look nice and usually get a lot of activity especially since someone from Tops occasionally comes down here."

"Why would they come down here?"

"To watch underground duels or get a Common to be their servant. Basically anything that'll get you out of trouble if you have enough money." Rin admits. "Anyways, this district is around the City's central loop so it's busier than the others since people come to watch Riding Duels here. So we should be able to learn more about the City's status here."

Soon the two notice that many people were looking at them to the point their presence was drawing a crowd. Stuff the people were saying when they see them include "Hey is that them?"; "I think that's the same girl since the clothes look similar."; and "Yeah that must be that Rin girl." Some were also talking about Yuto though what they were conversing whether or not he was Yuya or Yugo.

"Looks like Yuya's fame here will make it difficult to go anywhere." Yuto sighs at the attention.

"Did you hear some of them mention my name? That's odd." Rin mentions.

"You aren't that well known here I take?"

"I would like to have fame one day but I'm hardly someone who has any kind of reputation that would attract people."

"Hey Yuya! Are you here?" Coming from the crowd yelling for Yuya are three children. They struggle to get through all the people until they reach Yuto and Ruri. The kids were Frank, Amanda, and Tanner.

"You're not Yuya." Frank points out after getting a good look at Yuto.

"I think he's one of Yuya's counterparts or whatever they're called." Tanner guesses.

"I'm Yuto, Yuya's xyz counterpart. Have we met before because you three seem familiar?"

"You aren't Yuya, but you and Rin are still merged with Yuya and Yuzu right?" Amanda asks.

"Yes we are. Wait, how do you know my name?" Rin says.

"Never mind. We'll explain things later just follow us." Frank says as he and the other kids go to where they want the counterparts to follow them.

"Yeah, Chojiro will get upset if he notices we're gone." Tanner adds.

"Chojiro as in Chojiro Tokamatsu?" Yuto says to himself.

"I've always wanted to meet Enjoy Chojiro!" Rin gushes. "Actually, how do you know Chojiro, Yuto? Did Yuya or Yugo tell you about him?

"They have mentioned him before and I do recognize those three kids from when you, Yuzu and the rest of you girls came back. Though I feel like I know them more personally. Probably because I was merged with Yuya before he first entered the Synchro dimension so I'm recalling his own experiences." Yuto speculates. "That could also be the reason why I want to make sure the City isn't still corrupt because I've seen that corruption through Yuya's eyes."

"Well it looks like there is some kind of problem and I'm not surprised one bit."

Yuto and Rin follow the three kids through a very thick mob of people who are watching a duel. The duel is between Chojiro and some Commons citizen. The kids explain to them that Chojiro has gone back to his roots to help teach the children in the Commons area how to duel. When he's not doing that, he'll entertain the people with a fun duel so many people like to come to watch him play. After he was done entertaining the masses, the three kids tell Chojiro that they found Rin and Yuto, who can help Crow and Shinji.

Later, outside Crow and Shinji's place, the two have just defeated some thugs in a duel. Behind the thugs is a tall lean man with his hair in a buzzcut and wearing a black suit and shades.

"Sigh. Why do you two make this so hard? I'm only offering you both a chance of a lifetime." The man in shades spoke in a sleazy tone.

"Forget it Shedo. The Commons finally now have a chance to live however we please so we don't have to work for people like your boss." Shinji declares.

"Shinji you seem to be misunderstanding things. Colosimo only wants to hire you two for a very lucrative job that's all. You'll still have your freedom, but you'll be able to live comfortably for a while. Back me up Crow. You used to work for Colosimo, remember?" Shedo says trying to make a deal.

"Oh I remember. I remember how you guys only brought me on board to be the fall guy for one of your jobs. Not only did I not get any money but you guys are the reason my face looks like this." Crow reminisces while pointing at his criminal markings.

"I'll admit that was our fault. Who knew you would grow up to become such a skilled riding duelist. We would have kept you around longer." Shedo snaps his fingers and the thug duelists that Shinji and Crow defeated earlier get up walk back behind Shedo.

Before he leaves, Shedo turns back to the two. "The City may be changing but you guys are still Commons. That means you got to do what you can to survive and with the way things currently are, my boss won't let you unless you do as he says."

After Shedo's out of sight, Shinji turns to Crow. "As if we'd really work for them. Guys like Colosimo and Shedo are traitors who act like their Tops."

"Yeah, but Shedo's right unfortunately. With the way things currently are, we don't have much of a chance surviving." Crow admits despite not wanting to.

"Crow! Shinji!" Frank, Amanda, and Tanner call out running to their caretakers to see if they're ok.

"Kids. Have you been spying on us again?" Crow asks.

"No we were just heading back to the house." Amanda says.

"We were hiding though so that freak Shedo wouldn't see us." Tanner adds.

"Anyways we found Yuya and Yuzu's counterparts." Frank says referring to Rin and Yuto who are right behind them

"Oh, you're that Rin girl and I'm guessing that you must be the counterpart from Xyz." Crow says.

"My name's Yuto. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Shedo guy is the problem the kids want us to handle." Yuto says.

"Yeah, he's been coming here to try to recruit Crow and Shinji for a job that his boss has been trying to do given what recently happened." Chojiro fills them in.

Rin and Yuto give a curious look about what he means until Shinji invites the two inside so they can explain further. Everyone gathers around the table as Shinji pulls out an old newspaper from a stack of them and puts it in front of them. The front page shows a picture of the former Security director and Academy infiltrator, Jean-Michel Roget, being arrested.

" _Roget!"_ Yuya and Yuzu shout with some anger from remembering what he did to them and their friends.

" _Huh. I forgot about him being sent here."_ Yuri comments.

" _The guy in charge of Security gets arrested by Security. That's rich."_ Yugo laughs.

" _Actually it's irony. Though it is still funny."_ Yuri responds.

" _Wait did we agree on something?"_

 _"I guess we did."_

"Security found Roget five days ago hiding out in the City. He was immediately arrested for trying to take over the City along with many other illegal activities such as mind control." Shinji explains.

"The thing is that because he's originally from Fusion and they found evidence about how he planned to take over the fusion dimension, there's a number of legal issues about how to trial him. Personally, I don't care as long as the bas-Ow, I mean jerk is locked up." Crow further explains with Shinji elbowing him so he doesn't swear in front of the kids.

"So how does that relate to your situation or any problem with the City?" Yuto questions.

"This is happening right after Security got new people in charge and the City started a new government." Frank says.

"Basically with everything changing a number of crime groups are taking advantage of any holes in the system and this is a big one since they don't know how to handle this kind of situation." Amanda adds.

"So crime here has actually gotten worse." Rin reasons which the kids nod in agreement.

"Criminal activity is that bad here?" Yuto asks Rin.

"When 99% of the population are only allowed 1% of the wealth, you'll do anything to get it. Yugo and I focused on winning tournaments including the Friendship Cup in order to live a better life. It was a choice that had risks but it's honest unlike what guys like that Shedo person does."

"That's the situation basically." Crow concludes. "The good news is that Reiji guy is getting involved and probably can help settle everything. Until then Shinji and I keep getting approached to work for guys like Colosimo since we're great riding duelists and his lackeys cause serious problems for us every time we refuse."

"Stuff like threatening the kids or having some thugs attack or duel us while we try to deliver supplies to Commons children. Every time we turn down an offer, more pressure is put on us until we agree." Shinji mentions.

Rin slams her hand on the table. "Well he won't keep doing it. Everyone has been struggling enough in the City and I refuse to let some bullies make things worse. Whatever Yuto and I can do, we'll help you. Right Yuto?"

"What's happening is a lot to handle, but I refuse to do nothing when something bad around me is happening." The former Resistance member replies.

Everyone has hopeful smiles that this situation in particular can be stopped. Rin then becomes curious as she tells them how it seems that everyone in the City knows her now and she wants to know what that's all about. Shinji gets another paper from the stack and opens it to a specific page of the paper. When he hands it to Rin, the synchro girl looks like she's silently screaming from what she sees. It's a picture of her and Yugo running away from the Security officer at the Tops party Jack Atlas invited them to when they spent the day here. It also contains an article about that featuring their names since the journalist that wrote the article interviewed Jack about who they were since he invited them and goes on to talk about how they have a connection to Yuya, are Commons from Synchro, and may be delinquents given their behavior at the party.

" _Um, at least you two don't look bad in the picture."_ Ruri tries to comfort the shocked Rin.

" _I'm beginning to hate cameras now."_ Serena says remembering what happened yesterday.

" _Note to self, look out for photographers and the like when I go on my date with Yuya."_ Yuzu says to herself since she has a celebrity boyfriend now.

"Well, you did say you would like to be famous here." Yuto says with the only thing that could come to his mind other than Yugo feeling embarrassed that this happened.

"I meant I want the fame that guys like Jack Atlas have. Not this." Rin responds.

"Still, this may not be a bad thing."

"How exactly?"

"I think I have an idea on how to handle this problem."

At the start of nighttime, Crow and Shinji walk up to what looks like an abandoned building. Outside, Shedo's waiting for them.

"Good. You guys showed up." Shedo greets the two.

"Yeah whatever. We just want you guys out of our hair." Crow grunts.

As Shedo leads them inside, he doesn't notice Yuto on a rooftop watching them with binoculars.

"So this plan will work right Yuto?" Chojiro asks who has the trio of kids along with him.

"Yeah. I based this plan off of a tactic the Resistance used. I modified it though to use traits from my counterparts." Yuto reassures before turning to the kids. "Did you guys spread the word?"

"Yep. They should be here any minute." Frank says

"As if anyone would want to miss this duel." Tanner adds.

"Oh. Here's the card you wanted Yuto." Amanda hands Yuto a Ray of Hope card.

"Thanks." Yuto then calls up Rin, who's in the area on her D-Wheel. "You ready to start Rin?"

"Just give the signal and I'm ready to go." Rin says. After saying that, Yuto starts jumping from rooftop to rooftop until he gets on the one where Colosimo and his gang are having their meeting. Yuto takes the Ray of Hope card and plays it to create a large impromptu spotlight on himself that gets the attention of many Commons neighboring the building he's on. After taking a breath, Yuto gets into character and shouts as loud as he can.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It's show time! Now the people of Synchro, I will show you an amazing show unlike anything you've seen before. And my opponent will be the talk of the entire city, the lovely Rin!"

Rin pulls up on Ringo and also starts boasting in an impression that appears to be a combination of Chojiro and Jack Atlas. "Everyone, it's time to enjoy this duel because it'll be a clash of our very souls!"

" _This is so humiliating."_ Yuto and Rin both think to themselves.

Rin revs up the D-Wheel and starts riding around the building as the duel starts.

Yuto: 4000 life points.

Rin: 4000 life points.

"I'll be taking the first move!" Rin declares before talking in a low tone to herself. "Got to start off slow before the crowd gets here."

She then officially starts her turn. "First I play the magic card Wind-Calling Bell Chime. I reveal a level 4 or lower Wind Witch monster from my hand so I can summon a monster with the same name from my deck. I reveal the Wind Witch – Shiver Bell to summon a the second one."

Rin summons a white haired girl in a dark blue witch outfit riding a matching broom.

Wind Witch – Shiver Bell. Level: 3. Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1100. Defense: 1200.

"When Shiver Bell was special summoned I get to add a Wind Witch monster from my deck to my hand. The card I added was Wind Witch – Ice Bell and I summon her."

Wind Witch – Ice Bell. Level: 3. Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 1000.

"Now Ice Bell's effect activates. Since she was summoned I inflict 500 damage to my opponent."

Yuto: 3500 life points.

At this point, a crowd of people started gathering to watch the duel and above in the sky is a news helicopter broadcasting the duel with Melissa Claire acting as an announcer. So far Yuto's plan is working. The plan involved Crow and Shinji agreeing to Shedo's job offer so that they could learn where Colosimo's hideout is. After that, he'd want the rest to spread rumors to the Commons that Yuto, pretending to be Yuya, and Rin will be dueling there. To help further, he'd use Yuya's entertainment dueling style introduction and the trick Yuri uses to use the flashy effects from the Solid Vision when he plays a card outside of a duel as a distraction to get the attention of the people in the surrounding area. Since the City loves a good duel, this will attract lots of media attention. If they were willing to watch a random riding duel between Yugo and a Security officer then one between two duelists who already have a level of fame can attract more.

Yuto's plan is adapted from a guerilla warfare tactic the Resistance created to fight Academy. They'd bait the enemy then the Academy soldiers would be ambushed and surrounded by many Resistance members. Things already seem to be going good since they got everyone's attention and Rin and Yuto are both starting off slow to gather more. Hopefully some of that attention will be Security so they can deal with Colosimo and his men. In the meantime, it's still Rin's turn.

"Now that I have two level 3 Wind monsters, I overlay them. Chilly winds of the season whirl around the one who'll ride you. Xyz summon! Rank 3! Wind Witch – Icicle Bell!" Rin summons her first xyz monster, a witch wearing a white dress with a cyan pattern that resembles bells on it and her white hair has decorations that resemble cyan wind chimes. The broom she's riding has icicles hanging from the bottom that resemble wind chimes from their various sizes.

Wind Witch – Icicle Bell. Rank: 3. Wind. Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 1500.

"I set a card face down and end my turn. Now that it's the end phase, I remove an overlay unit from Icicle Bell so she can gain attack equal to the amount of effect damage dealt to my opponent this turn."

Wind Witch – Icicle Bell. Attack: 2500.

"Then it's my turn so I draw. I summon the tuner monster, The Phantom Knights of Rustic Vambraces." Yuto summons a cloaked figure made of blue spirit flames with no legs but arms wearing old vambraces.

The Phantom Knights of Rustic Vambraces. Level: 2. Dark. Warrior/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 600. Defense: 800.

"Since I now control a Phantom Knights monster, I can play The Phantom Knight's Soul Void to discard my entire hand and draw the same amount plus 1. So I'll send my hand to the graveyard and draw 5 cards. Now I can play the trap card that was just discarded from my graveyard, The Phantom Knights of Lost Squires. If I control a Phantom Knights monster I can special summon this card as a level 3 normal monster."

The Phantom Knights of Lost Squires. Level: 3. Dark. Warrior. Attack: 0. Defense: 0.

Appearing on Yuto's side of the field is a being covered in the same blue spirit flames as some of his other Phantom Knight monsters and wearing old peasant clothing. With a non-tuner, Yuto begins synchro summoning the two monsters as shown by Rustic Vambraces banging its braces together before it turns into the green tuning circles.

"Valiant knight of the fallen pick up your dark lance and ride into battle! Synchro summon! Level 5! The Phantom Knights of Obsidian Lance!" Yuto summons a fully armored knight in black armor with blue flames emitted from the joints and the eyeholes in the helmet. Said knight is riding on a horse in similar armor and holding a pitch black lance and shield.

The Phantom Knights of Obsidian Lance. Level: 5. Dark. Warrior/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2100. Defense: 1200.

"Now to give these people a good show, I'll have Obsidian Lance attack Icicle Bell." Yuto's black knight starts chasing Wind Witch – Icicle Bell, who faces it head on as if this was a jousting tournament.

"Did you just forget that my witch has more attack then your knight?" Rin asks.

"No because when Obsidian Lance battles a monster with higher attack than it, I can discard a card from my hand so that it can't be destroyed by the battle. In addition, any battle damage I would take from this battle is inflicted on you instead and if the card I discarded is a Phantom Knights card then the damage will be doubled."

"Say what?!"

The Phantom Knights of Obsidian Lance clashes with Wind Witch – Icicle Bell, but Yuto discards The Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil to make it so that not only is his monster safe but Rin takes 800 points of damage represented by a shadowy aura around the lance going through Icicle Bell and hitting Rin.

Rin: 3200 Life Points.

Yuto sets a card and ends his turn. During this, not only has Security showed up to do crowd control, but Colosimo and his men notice the large crowd outside of the building. They've been aware of the duel when it started but wanted to ignore it so as not to draw any attention though now it seems more attention is coming to them.

"What on earth is going on? I want answers now!" Colosimo shouts at his men. The large man in a red suit with large black mustache turns to Shedo. "Shedo what's with that noise outside?"

"Well sir it seems that Rin girl from the papers a few days ago is dueling Yuya Sakaki." Shedo answers.

"Yuya Sakaki. Are you positive?"

"I don't know. However, this spot is being broadcasted and Security is out there."

"Crow! Shinji! You two know Yuya Sakaki so tell me, huh." Colosimo shouts at Crow and Shinji but notices them leaving. At the site of this, Colosimo orders his men to chase after them.

"Looks like Yuto's plan is working." Shinji says.

"Yeah just got to get some of these thugs caught by Security so they can investigate this place, and Shedo and Colosimo will hopefully be off our backs." Crow reminds him.

"I just wish you would've come up with a better escape plan than we can handle it."

"Hey we can. Don't act like you'll get a criminal mark too."

Outside with the duel, Rin starts her turn. "I draw and now I summon Wind Witch – Mirror Bell."

Wind Witch – Mirror Bell. Level: 4. Wind. Spellcaster/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1400.

"When Wind Witch – Mirror Bell is summoned, she deals 300 damage for each Wind Witch I control so you take 600 damage Yuto, I mean, Yuya."

Yuto: 2900 life points.

At this point, Shinji and Crow come running out of the building being chased by some big guys with criminal markings on their faces. When Rin spots them, she speeds up. The thugs hear the D-Wheel's motor and freeze like deer in headlights at the sight of a speeding Riding Duelist. Fortunately, Rin doesn't hit them since she's skilled enough to quickly turn to avoid them before slowing down enough so she can make a sharp turn that doesn't result with her crashing into the crowd.

While the crowd is distracted by this, Crow and Shinji hitch rides by grabbing onto the brooms of Rin's Wind Witch monsters to get some distance from the thugs. The thugs start chasing them unknowingly yelling threats at Rin, Crow, and Shinji. This gets the attention of Security who see their criminal markings and consider them dangerous people so they fire Real Solid Vision nets at them.

"Ok everyone's focused on Colosimo's goons so we can get off. Thanks for the ride Rin." Crow says to the synchro girl.

"No problem. Now Yuto and I can give these people a real show." Rin declares while Crow and Shinji let go from her witches so they can hide into the crowd. "Ok first I use the effect of the Wind Witch – Breeze Bell in my hand to make Mirror Bell a level 6 monster so that I can special summon her."

Wind Witch – Breeze Bell. Level: 1. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 0. Defense: 0.

Wind Witch – Mirror Bell. Level: 6.

"Next I play the magic card Retune to send my Breeze Bell to the grave so I can summon a tuner monster from my deck with the same level so long as it has a different name since Breeze Bell is already a tuner. The monster I'm summoning is Wind Witch – Snow Bell."

Wind Witch – Snow Bell. Level: 1. Wind. Spellcaster/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 100. Defense: 100.

"Now I tune my level 6 Mirror Bell with my level 1 Snow Bell! Minwinter wind. Make ice and snow my power and blow through. Synchro summon! Level 7! Wind Witch – Winter Bell!"

Wind Witch – Winter Bell. Level: 7. Wind. Spellcaster/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 2400. Defense: 2000.

" _Crow and Shinji are out of there and some guys from inside the building were caught. That means Rin and I no longer have to hold back in this duel. Let's make things exciting enough that the entire city will be looking at Colosimo's hideout."_ Yuto thinks while smiling that things are proceeding smoothly.

"Since I used Snow Bell for the synchro summoning then Winter Bell can no longer be destroyed by card effects." Rin proclaims. "Now I'll activate Winter Bell's effect to pick the Mirror Bell in my graveyard so I can deal 200 points of damage times her level so you take 800 damage Yuto."

Yuto: 2100 life points.

"I set a card to end my turn. Now I remove Icicle Bell's last overlay unit so she can gain attack equal to the damage dealt to you this turn. However, she won't because I activate my trap card Power Overload to prevent any attack gain a monster I control would gain at this moment and deal that much as effect damage to my opponent so Yuto, you'll take 1400 damage!"

Rin's trap card causes a burst of energy to fly out and strikes Yuto hard for massive damage.

Yuto: 700 life points.

"Not bad Rin but I was ready for this. Quick-play magic card, The Phantom Knight's Vengeance! During the end of the turn, my opponent loses life points equal to all the damage I've taken this turn. In this case, 2800 points."

Rin: 400 life points.

"It's my turn. I draw and I banish Mischief of the Yokai from my graveyard to reduce The Phantom Knights of Obsidian Lance's level by 1. Then I normal summon The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor." Yuto says.

The Phantom Knights of Obsidian Lance. Level: 4.

The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor. Level: 4. Dark. Warrior/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2000.

"I use the effect of The Phantom Knights of Rustic Vambraces to special summon it from my graveyard since I just summoned a Phantom Knights monster but it'll be banished when it leaves the field."

"Two level 4 monsters with a level 2 tuner. I take it you'll summon a level 10 synchro monster?" Rin asks Yuto.

"Actually I'm going to do something more interesting. I overlay my level 4 Obsidian Lance and level 4 Fragile Armor. Formed from pitch black darkness to fight those foolish enough to oppose it with its treacherous fangs. Xyz summon! Rank 4! Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Rank: 4. Dark. Dragon/Xyz/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"Now I plan on performing a synchro summon using my Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!" Yuto proclaims which leaves everyone watching the duel baffled.

"Eh! Yuya Sakaki just said that he plans on using his xyz monster to synchro summon, but xyz monster don't have levels. Wait, if they don't have levels doesn't that mean their level is 0?" Melissa Claire announces.

"I activate the magic card Black and White Reflection! Black and White Reflection gives one xyz monster I control a level equal to its rank and I can choose to give it an additional level for each overlay unit currently attached to it. Now Dark Rebellion's a level 6 monster."

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon. Level: 6.

"When a monster gains a level from Black and White Reflection I must immediately use it for a synchro summon so I tune the level 2 Rustic Vambraces with the level 6 Dark Rebellion! Dragon born from the darkness! Come forth to slash and cleave your oppressors! Synchro summon! Level 8! Dark Rebellion Defiant Dragon!"

Yuto summons a synchro dragon-type that resembles a white version of Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon but with sharp blue fangs and claws.

Dark Rebellion Defiant Dragon. Level: 8. Dark. Dragon/Synchro/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2500.

Yuto orders his dragon to swoop down and attack Winter Bell. Since Winter Bell is a level 5 or higher monster, Dark Rebellion Defiant Dragon gains attack equal to half of Winter Bell's attack to make the dragon have 4200 attack points. Given that a Wind Witch monster Rin controls is being attacked, she activates her counter trap, Wind Witch Mischief. Now she can negate the attack and deal 400 points of damage to Yuto for each Wind Witch she controls thus ending the duel.

"I activate Dark Rebellion Defiant Dragon's second ability." Yuto says. "Once per turn when a magic or trap card is targeting a monster I control, my dragon can negate and destroy it. You're trap is now gone."

"Then I'll just have to use it again." Rin proclaims. "When I control no magic or trap cards, I can banish Wind Witch – Breeze Bell to reset a magic or trap card from my graveyard and I can activate it the turn it's set so I reactivate Wind Witch's Mischief."

Rin's trap goes through to make a whirlwind that shields her monsters from Defiant Dragon's attack then that same chilly wind blows its way over to Yuto. Yuto uses his cards' ability to banish themselves from the graveyard for effects to protect him

"I banish from my graveyard The Phantom Knight's Vengeance so that I can negate any effect damage I would take this turn."

"If I control two or more monsters that were summoned from my extra deck then the damage dealt by Wind Witch's Mischief can't be negated." Rin states.

"Say what?!" After Yuto says that he gets hit for 800 points of damage by a cold gust.

Yuto: 0 life points. Rin wins.

Rin comes to a stop as Yuto uses his dragon to safely get off the building and getting on the D-Wheel to drive off with the cheering crowd moving out of the way so they don't get hit. After leaving, Security checks the building to find Colosimo and his men to arrest them since they found plans for the heist he had set up inside. Yuto, Rin, and the others watch things happen from afar and feel relieved that things worked out well. However, the group all get startled when they hear someone talk right behind them.

"Reiji Akaba would like to have a word with you two." Everyone turns around to see Tsukikage standing behind them.

"You're that ninja guy I dueled at the Friendship Cup." Shinji points out.

"My name is Tsukikage. Reiji is currently in Synchro right now and would like a word with Rin and Yuto." Tsukikage's statement makes the two counterparts gulp since they fear they may be in trouble.

 **Note: This was an experiment to see how well I could incorporate plot related elements while duels are happening. Before anyone asks, this isn't going to be a two parter again. Also like to thank HunterHQ for asking if I would answer what happened to Roget, and remembering that 5D's brought back Divine who got arrested off screen (yes, the wiki says that happened), this helped me a lot in writing the chapter.**


	18. Yuya & Yuzu

Inside the Capital Building, Reiji is watching a recording of the broadcast between Yuto and Rin's duel, which led to Colosimo's gang getting arrested. After pausing it, he turns to said counterparts, who're standing between Tsukikage and Hikage.

"So is there a reason you two did something this reckless instead of letting the proper authorities handle it?" Reiji asks them as if he was their caretaker.

"Look Reiji, we knew that this was dangerous, but Crow and Shinji couldn't do any honest work or deliver supplies to Commons because of guys like that. Security can't handle things because of the changes." Rin justifies her actions.

"Also there's the problem with dealing with Roget since no one knows how trial a guy from a different dimension." Yuto adds.

"I'm aware of all of that, which is why I'm handling it. You two on the other hand should've been spending your day together doing things that don't result in serious trouble and having your duel so that you can eventually separate. None of you have to worry about big problems like this." Reiji says.

"Not worry. I was merged with Yuya long before anyone found out the truth about us. I was unable to help him or anyone else and I made things worse by helping Zarc revive. I can't ignore people in danger if I can do something about it!" Yuto curses his inability to assist in the past from his situation.

"Yuto's right. I've been locked up and used as a puppet just to witness things fall apart. Each of us including our counterparts have seen terrible things happen in any one of the dimensions so there's no way any of us can ignore bad things happening here or other places!" Rin shouts pointing out how all eight counterparts want to help no matter what.

"And that's why I want to give you guys a break from all that!" Reiji shouts, which gets all eight counterparts' undivided attention as he explains.

"All of you have been through a lot. Even now you're dealing with one more problem. I don't want any of you to stop helping people, but I want you to be able to enjoy your life despite any of your situations."

Yuto and Rin let his words sink before they give him nod to let him know they understand what he means. The other six do the same and even though Reiji couldn't see them, he did feel that they got the message too. Reiji says he'll have Tsukikage and some of his employees escort them out of the Synchro Dimension since it's getting late. Before they leave Reiji says one more thing.

"By the way, tomorrow will be the day for the last pairing to spend the day together to see if this experiment works. I want them to spend the day in Maiami City if possible and to not have their duel until 3 in the afternoon."

"Why in Maiami City and how come they can't duel till 3?" Rin asks.

"You'll see tomorrow. Can that be arranged?"

"Actually considering whose turn it is next, I think they wouldn't mind spending as much time as possible in their home city." Yuto smiles. The two left back for Pendulum and morning later came.

Yuya runs out of his house with the rollerboots activated. At the same time, Yuzu also runs out of her home on her rollerboots. Both were so eager to spend the day together on what will be their first date, but also to see one another after over two weeks. They do eventually stop when they get halfway between each other's houses and see each other causing both to smile happily at the site of the other.

"Yuzu."

"Yuya."

The two run up to embrace the other and kiss. After they part from their kiss, Yuzu is the first to speak. "It's been way too long."

"Yeah we probably should've figured out a different way of who'd spend their day together if it was this long that we see each other." Yuya says.

"Regardless let's enjoy our first date together. I'll let you pick where we go."

"Honestly I would love to go anywhere with you, which gives me a good idea of where we can go."

After a bus ride, Yuya and Yuzu arrive at the Maiami Mega Mall. The mall is a massive four-story building that features not only a variety of stores but also an indoor theme park, movie theater, some restaurants along with a food court, and an Action Duel field. While it's not the first time they've been here together, Yuya does figure there's plenty for them to do here.

" _Wow. Yuya knows how to pick a good first date spot."_ Ruri says.

" _The Pendulum Dimension seems more like the fun dimension the more I see of it."_ Rin says.

" _I'm just hoping things go good for these two. They deserve it."_ Serena says.

The pendulum couple decides to start things off interesting by first going to the theme park inside the mall for some of the rides such as the rollercoaster. Fortunately for Yuya, he and Yuzu do some slower rides like the carousel in between them so this didn't turn into a repeat of when he spent the day with the thrill seeking Rin.

After that round of fun, they start aimlessly browsing around by going into any stores that catches their attention. Naturally the first one that catches their eye would be a card shop.

" _A lot of pendulum cards on sale here."_ Yugo notes.

" _No really in the Pendulum Dimension."_ Yuri snarks.

" _Though it's still funny that this used to be Standard."_ Yuto says.

"Yeah. It's actually odd to me." Yuya says.

"Care to share what you boys are talking about?" Yuzu injects herself into the conversation while she looks at some merchandise.

"I was just saying how it feels a little odd how Standard became Pendulum. Everything seems the same and when I remember the past, I know that pendulum cards didn't appear until my duel with Strong Ishijima. But at the same time it feels like it's always been around."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I still recall watching you in that duel when you first pendulum summoned. Even if everyone can do it, that moment was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen you do Yuya."

Yuzu's comment makes Yuya blush and he tries to act modest. "Well I mean, I wouldn't say it's the most amazing thing I've done. I mean I think I've done some things that were more impressive."

"True. I bet you'll pull off some amazing moves during our duel today." Yuya blushes more from what Yuzu says but then stops when he realizes something.

"Hey Yuzu. When did you start pendulum summoning?"

"Huh. What do you mean Yuya? I've always been able to, wait." Yuzu looks back at all her duels with the other three dragon boys and figures out that the pendulum cards she used were never in her deck. At least compared to the deck she used when their world was Standard.

"Now that you mention it Yuya, I think my deck has changed when I came back. I probably never noticed because pendulum summoning is normal here now."

"Well I don't mind. Regardless of how or when you're deck changed, I actually love the idea of you being able to pendulum summon. It just means you're duels will be even more spectacular."

This time Yuzu blushes from the comment. "That's a really nice thing to say Yuya. I mean I don't think I'm at your level but thanks for saying that."

"I just wish we could do our duel now just see what we can do since our decks keep changing depending on which counterpart we're against." Yuya brings up.

"Well until three comes, I'm going to enjoy spending the day with my number one guy." Yuzu gives Yuya a quick kiss on the cheek before they go back to browsing.

After that talk, the rest of the day involved Yuya and Yuzu going around having various fun such as going into a costume shop to try on various costumes for fun leading to Yuya having trouble getting on a few costumes of some of his Pendulum Magician cards sine they're so elaborate in design. They go to a music store listening to different samples of music. The pendulum couple get so into listening to songs together, especially the love songs that they accidently play a loud metal rock song. For them it was more painful sense their counterparts also screamed from the long music.

"We should probably pay attention more at what we're doing." Yuzu comments.

" _You think."_ All six counterparts remark while rubbing their ears.

The two go to a sit down restaurant inside the mall for their lunch. It wasn't too bad though a number of people were starting to notice Yuya and to Yuzu's irritation, their waitress, who was a year or two older than them, did flirt with Yuya for a bit. She did stop when Yuya tells her how he's dating Yuzu and gave her an autograph. A smart thing since he could see fire radiating from Yuzu. After eating, they saw a movie in the multiplex together to kill some time.

Eventually, the time becomes 10 till 3.

"Well it's almost three o' clock." Yuzu points out.

"We could have our duel at one the mall's action fields?" Yuya suggests.

"Nah. Chances are there'd probably be a line and let's face it, you now draw too much attention so we'd probably be hounded by any fans of yours after the duel."

"True. I know we can have our duel at You Show. It's been so long since we've been there and we can see Tatsuya, Ayu, and Futoshi again."

"That's an excellent idea Yuya! Plus I can show my dad the dueling skills I picked up from dueling your counterparts in person."

"Yeah, I can do the same with my dad since he's been teaching at the school again."

As they talk more about how excited they are to see You Show Duel School again, even speculating if more students enrolled since Yusho's back, they head for the nearest exit of the mall. The moment they leave the large building, a smoke cloud engulfs them instantaneously. In the confusion, neither notices that they each have been grabbed by a shadowy figure that leaps into the air holding them. As they scream from all the excitement, Yuya recognizes their captors.

"Tsukikage! Hikage!"

Yuzu calms down when she sees that she and Yuya are being carried by the ninja twins. Tsukikage carrying Yuya while Hikage carries Yuzu.

"Where are you two taking us?!" Yuzu asks them as they jump swiftly through the city.

"To You Show Duel School." Hikage replies.

"But we were just heading there!" Yuya tells them.

"This is faster." Tsukikage refers to their ninja skills and speed as they jump from building to building.

In a few minutes, the ninjas drop off Yuya and Yuzu in front of the duel school. The pendulum couple feel exhausted as if they've been on a fast wild ride since Tsukikage and Hikage carried them at speeds thought humanly impossible.

"What's the big idea with you two bringing us here like that? Wait, were you spying on us since otherwise how else were you able to know where we were just as we left?" Yuzu bombards them with questions in anger.

"Forgive us, but Reiji ordered us to bring you to You Show Duel School for your duel today." Hikage answers.

"Reiji. Can you tell us why and how come he wanted us to wait so long?" Yuya asks.

"Reiji wanted to give you two a lot of time so you could spend it together relaxing. As for everything else related to your duel go inside and you'll see." Tsukikage responds.

Curious, Yuya and Yuzu enter the duel school where they're greeted in the lobby by Ayu, Tatsuya, and Futoshi. Surprisingly, they also see Frank, Amanda, and Tanner along with Kaito and a small boy with light blue hair.

"Yuya! Yuzu!" The You Show kids shout upon seeing their friends.

"Hey kids it's great to see you guys again." Yuya says to them.

"You guys should've come by more." Ayu tells them.

"Sorry for not dropping by when we can." Yuzu apologizes.

"Well it does feel great to see you guys again." Tatsuya says.

"We're also excited about your duel. It'll probably give me the shivers." Futoshi says.

"I don't know Rin and Yuto's duel was kind of shivery." Frank remarks.

"Well Rin was using Wind Witch monsters." Tanner adds.

"Why are you three here and Kaito too? Aren't the portals closed off to everyone but us and the Leo Corporation?" Yuzu asks.

"They still are. However, Reiji brought all of us here to see your duel. He seems pretty confident that this experiment will separate you guys considering how many people from all four dimensions he brought over here." Kaito explains before he then sees that they're looking at the small boy next to him. "Oh, this is my little brother Haruto."

"Hi Haruto." Yuya and Yuzu greet the boy.

"Hello. They really do look like Yuto and Ruri big brother." Haruto turns back to his brother.

"Heartland is still being restored but progress has been amazing." Kaito explains. "I decided to bring Haruto along since I've been taking breaks to look after him while our dad works on Heartland. Plus he's hoping to see Yuto and Ruri again along with an exciting duel."

"Don't worry, we promise to deliver something worth seeing." Yuya smiles then recalls what Kaito said earlier. "Wait you said Reiji brought all of us. How many people did he bring over?"

"Come see for yourself." Kaito leads them to one of the larger rooms of the school where they see many of their friends and people they met in all four dimensions. Sora, Dennis, Grace, Gloria, BB, Edo, Noro, and Asuka from Fusion. Jack, Crow, Shinji, and Chojiro from Synchro. Shun, Allen, and Sayaka from Xyz. In addition, Sawatari, Gongenzaka, Shuzo, Yoko, Yusho, Nico Smiley, Mieru, the LDS trio, and Akaba family are also present.

"Yuya! Yuzu!" Gongenzaka happily shouts as he gives his two friends a big hug.

"It's great to see you again too Gongenzaka." Yuya says happy to see his friend as well.

"A lot of us are happy to see you guys." Sawatari speaks up. "Though you could've spent some more time here. Seriously, things felt boring while you guys were gone everywhere else."

"You do know that they're only out once every four days right and have spent those days with the other's counterparts right?" Sora points out. 

"I knew that but still."

"If all of you are ready?" Reiji interrupts. "Let's see if this will work."

After he said that, everyone moved to the school's action field. While Nico Smiley does commentary with Shuzo operating the action field generator and everyone else watches, Yuzu and Yuya get their duel discs ready. Though they have a private conversation before they begin.

"Hey Yuya. Reiji seems pretty confident that this will work." Yuzu points out.

"Well he's a pretty confident and smart guy. Why wouldn't he be?" Yuya says.

"Well when he first suggested having a duel each day, he didn't seem that serious about it but now he is. I think he knows something that he's not telling us."

"Reiji keeping secrets. That's so shocking." Yuya sarcastically remarks but then changes his tune and smiles. "Doesn't matter. Even if he knows something, he never means any serious harm to people. We had a great time spending time with our counterparts and so have they so let's give these guys a good show and hopefully separate."

"Right."

"Now everyone it's the deciding factor!" Nico Smiley announces. "This duel will be Yuya Sakaki against Yuzu Hiragi. Hopefully, we'll see something spectacular. Is everyone ready?" 

"Ready!"

"Very well. Mr. Hiragi." Smiley turns to Shuzo who's at the controls.

"Everything's set. Action field on. Magical Stage." Shuzo presses a button to convert the entire field into a large stage with curtains, stage lights, and ropes but also various props and set pieces. When a spotlight hits both duelists, Yuya and Yuzu enthusiastically yell at the same thing.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It's show time!" This gets their friends and family to say the Action Duel beginning chant.

"Duelist locked in battle!"

"Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!"

"They storm the field!"

"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling!"

"Action. Duel!"

Yuya: 4000 life points.

Yuzu: 4000 life points.

After the action cards scatter, Yuya makes the first move. "Alright let's start with a classic. With Scale 1, Stargazer Magician, and Scale 8, Timegazer Magician, I set the pendulum scales."

Yuya's scale: 1-8.

"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-7. Pendulum summon! Appearing on stage is the dragon with differently colored eyes, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 7. Dark. Dragon/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"I set a card face down and hand things over to the lovely Yuzu." Yuya sets his card and gets on Odd-Eyes to ride him across the field.

"Thank you. I draw and I summon Counterpoint the Melodious Diva." Yuzu summons a woman with a conductor baton and in a blue and orange Renaissance style dress.

Counterpoint the Melodious Diva. Level: 4. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 1700. Defense: 1900.

"Now when this is the only card I control, I can tribute her so I can add two Melodious monsters from my deck to my hand. So welcome the opening act, Scale 1, Allegro the Melodious Diva, and Scale 8, Adagio the Melodious Diva. I set the pendulum scales."

Yuzu scales: 1-8.

Much like on Yuya's side where the large pendulum swings between his magician in white and the magician in black, Yuzu's field shows the pendulum swinging between the warm colored ballerina and the cool colored ballerina.

"Now I can simultaneously summon monsters with levels 2-7. Pendulum summon! Appear, Opera the Melodious Diva, Tuning the Melodious Diva, Progression the Melodious Diva, Shopina the Melodious Maestra, and Wagnera the Melodious Maestra!"

Opera the Melodious Diva. Level: 4. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 2300. Defense: 1000.

Tuning the Melodious Diva. Level: 2. Light. Fairy/Tuner/Effect. Attack: 800. Defense: 700.

Progression the Melodious Diva. Level: 3. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 1200.

Shopina the Melodious Maestra. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Effect. Attack: 2300. Defense: 1700.

Wagnera the Melodious Maestra. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2000. Defense: 2600.

Everyone's smiling at the sight of Yuzu pendulum summoning her ensemble of musical divas especially her father who's taken the microphone from Smiley so he can loudly announce his cheers much to Yuzu's embarrassment. However, everyone would be later be more impressed by what Yuzu does next with her monsters.

"Ok first I use Shopina's effect to return Counterpoint from the grave back to my hand. Next since Wagnera was pendulum summoned this turn, I can perform a fusion summon using any monsters I control. So I'll fuse Wagnera with Opera. Angel's song! Supreme genius! With the guidance of the baton, gather your power! Fusion summon! Now come here to the stage! Level 6! Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir!

Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir. Level: 6. Light. Fairy/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2000.

"Since I used Opera the Melodious Diva as a fusion material, none of my Melodious monsters can be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn. Though she's not gone for good because Wagnera's other ability is that if she was used as a fusion material I can special summon the other from my graveyard with its effects negated so Opera returns to the stage."

"Not bad Yuzu." Yuya compliments her.

"Thanks but I'm still not finish. I use Tuning's effect to increase her level to make her a level 3 monster and I tune her with the level 4 Opera. One who controls all notes we play bring many together a fascinating show! Synchro summon! Level 7! Write the victory song! Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble!"

Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Synchro/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2600. Defense: 2100.

"Now I activate Progression's effect to reveal the face up Wagnera the Melodious Maestra in my extra deck so I can make Progression have the same level as her, which is 7. Now I overlay the level 7 Progression with the level 7 Shopina. Master of instruments create a symphony that'll sooth the chaos and reach the souls of all who hear it! Xyz summon! Rank 7! Lead your concert! Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra!"

Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra. Rank: 7. Light. Fairy/Xyz/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2800. Defense: 2000. Overlay Units: 2.

Performing a fusion, synchro, and xyz summoning on the same turn amazes everyone that almost all of them are speechless.

"Fusion. Synchro. Xyz. Now Pendulum. Looks like you better shape up Reiji since both Yuya and Yuzu are catching up with you." Yusho remarks to the young CEO.

"I welcome the challenge." Reiji says in his usual stoic fashion.

"First, Bloom Conductor's effect activates. Since she was special summoned, I can destroy any number of magic and trap cards on your side of the field Yuya equal to the number of Melodious monsters I control. I destroy your Pendulum Magicians and face down. Overture Shockwave." Yuzu's xyz monster releases a sound wave that gets rid of the three selected cards, but when Yuya's set card gets destroyed, it turns into a puff of smoke that releases hundreds of colorful smiley faces everyone.

"Pretty surprising huh. My face down card was Smile Surprise. When it's removed from the field, every player gets to draw until they have five cards in their hand so we both get to replenish our hands." Yuya explains as he and Yuzu both draw four cards with each giving off their respective drawing visual effects. Yuya's bright sparkling arc and Yuzu's magenta music notes.

"Thanks for the cards Yuya, but now it's time for the battle. I attack with Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir. Reflect Shout! Since Odd-Eyes is a special summoned monster, Bloom Diva can't be destroyed by the battle plus Odd-Eyes will be and you'll take the battle damage I would've taken." Yuzu's monster gives off a loud melody but before it hits, Yuya jumps off Odd-Eyes to grab an Action Card while swinging on a rope.

"Action Magic Mirror Barrier. This negates Odd-Eyes destruction by a card effect." Yuya says as his dragon gets protected by a transparent barrier.

"But you still take the damage."

Yuya: 2500 life points.

The blast from Bloom Diva's attack sends Yuya flying back but he lands on his feet on a platform of a set piece and grabs another Action Card there. "Action Magic Miracle. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon can't be destroyed by battle this turn and battle damage will be cut in half."

While Yuzu can't get rid of Yuya's dragon this way, she can still chip away at his life points by having Bloom Composer and Bloom Conductor attack too. They don't do much but they do some damage.

Yuya: 2300 life points.

"Ok I set a card face down and I play Deceptive Cadence. As long as this card is on the field, I only take half of any battle damage involving a battle with a Melodious monster. Also if it leaves the field, I can banish it to draw 2 cards. With that, I end my turn."

"My turn. I draw." Yuya sees that the card he drew is Smile World and gets a big grin. "Now the fun has just begun! First I set Scale 3, Monochrome Magician, and Scale 6, Spectrum Magician. I set the pendulum scale."

Two women wearing outfits just as elaborate as any of the other Pendulum Magician monsters appear in the pillars of light on opposite sides of the swinging pendulum. On the left side is Monochrome Magician wearing black and white robes with a hat that covers the top half of her face with hair in long pig-tails with the left white and right black. She's wielding a large shield with a mirror in the center. Spectrum Magician is on the right with long rainbow hair and a multicolored scarf covering her mouth while wearing wizard robes of various colors and holding a sword with a reflective blade.

Yuya's scales: 3-6.

"Since there's a Magician on the opposite side of each other, Monochrome Magician's scale becomes 0 and Spectrum Magician's scale becomes 11." Just as Yuya says, the numbers in the pillars become 0 and 11.

Yuya's scales: 0-11.

"Now, sway pendulum of the soul. Pendulum summon! Stargazer Magician, Performapal Cheermole, Performapal Splashmammoth, and returning to the field, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Stargazer Magician. Level: 5. Dark. Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1200. Defense: 2400.

Performapal Cheermole. Level: 2. Earth. Beast/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 600. Defense: 1000.

Performapal Splashmammoth. Level: 6. Water. Beast/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1900. Defense: 2300.

"Alright, first I'll use Performapal Splashmammoth's effect to fuse Odd-Eyes with Stargazer Magician. Wielder of mysterious powers, become the bright light and dwell in the eyes of the dragon! Fusion summon! Arcane dragon wielder of ancient magic! Level 8! Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Level: 8. Dark. Dragon/Fusion/Effect. Attack: 3000. Defense: 2000.

"Impressive Yuya but I use Bloom Composer's effect to negate Rune-Eyes effect and make it so it can't attack as long as she's on the field." Yuzu declares

"You could but the fusion materials used for Rune-Eyes were pendulum summoned so that means it's unaffected by card effects this turn." Yuya brings up to halt Yuzu's monster's effect.

"Plus Rune-Eyes can attack thrice since I used the level 5 Stargazer Magician and Monochrome and Spectrum Magician's pendulum effects activate since I used pendulum summoned monsters as materials to perform a fusion, synchro, or xyz summon."

When Yuya says this, his two new magicians use their weapons to activate their respective effects. Monochrome Magician permanently negates the effect of a face-up monster while Spectrum Magician does the same but to a face-up magic/trap card. This is shown with Monochrome Magician reflecting a grayscale light from her mirror shield onto Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir while Spectrum Magician reflects a refracted light onto Deceptive Cadence to remove their effects. With those effects gone, Yuya begins the next part of his strategy.

"Next, I play Smile World! Now every monster on the field will get 100 attack points for each monster on the field this turn." When Yuya plays the card, the field is filled with various smiling faces that boost each monster by 600 attack points.

Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir. Attack: 1600.

Bloom Composer the Melodious Ensemble. Attack: 3200.

Bloom Conductor the Melodious Orchestra. Attack: 3400.

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 3600.

Performapal Cheermole. Attack: 1200.

Performapal Splashmammoth. Attack: 2500.

"I activate Cheermole's effect to increase Rune-Eyes attack by 1000 since his attack increased this turn." Yuya says as his monster does her dance causing the dragon to glow brilliantly in the cheerful atmosphere.

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 4600.

Yuzu looks amazed as Yuya rides on top of Rune-Eyes while the dragon charges three bright energy orbs on the gold ring on its back that shines on her three monsters as if they're under a spotlight. The energy releases and strikes the three singing monsters. When the smoke clears, Bloom Diva is the only one standing and a rapidly spinning pendulum circles Yuzu who braced for the impacts.

Yuzu: 1400 life points.

"I stopped my Bloom Diva from being destroyed thanks to Adaigo's effect and I also activated the trap card Pendulum Force Field. When I would take battle damage I can send a pendulum monster from my hand to the extra deck to reduce it by that monster's attack so I sent Bloom Lead to the extra deck to reduce the damage involving Bloom Diva by 2500." Yuzu reveals.

"I see then I choose to attack Bloom Diva with Performapal Splashmammoth!"

Yuzu grabs a nearby action card and it's Evasion but Yuya also finds the action card No Action to negate the effect. Yuzu saves her monster by discarding Counterpoint the Melodious Diva to use her hand trap effect to switch the two monster's attack resulting in Splashmammoth being destroyed.

Yuya: 1400 life points.

"This is amazing! I missed Yuya and Yuzu's duels!" Ayu cheers.

"I know they give me the shivers." Futoshi loudly says.

"Though what I don't get is that Yuya knew Yuzu had Counterpoint in her hand so why did he still attack?" Tatsuya wonders.

"He probably wanted to force her to get rid of it since it would be a problem later." Asuka speculates.

"Yuzu's monster doesn't have its effect any more but if she didn't keep it, Yuya would win with his other monsters direct attacking." Crow points out.

"Though why is that the one she wants to protect?" Shun questions.

"I set a card face down and end my turn." Yuya says. "Right now, Smile World's effect ends and our monsters' attacks return back to normal."

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 3000.

Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir. Attack: 1000.

Performapal Cheermole. Attack: 600.

"My turn. I draw and I'll take this action, eh, trap?!" Yuzu looks shocked that the card she just grabs is an action trap as it activates.

"Huh, haven't seen those in a while." Sawatari comments.

The action card is Action Trap Tight Squeeze. Its effect makes it so that the turn player can only pendulum summon at most two monsters this turn. Given that it's Yuzu's turn, she suffers from it. She gets irritated but quickly calms back down.

"No problem. I can still work with this. I pendulum summon! Come back Wagnera the Melodious Maestra and joining her is the talented Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert!"

Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert. Level: 7. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2000.

"I activate Wagnera's effect to fuse Wagnera with Bloom Diva. Since Bloom Diva is a Melodious fusion monster, I can summon one of my strongest monsters. Two superb geniuses! With a powerful voice sing the finale that'll rain flowers from the cheering crowd! Fusion summon! This is your moment to shine! Level 8! Bloom Star the Melodious Concert!"

Bloom Star the Melodious Concert. Level: 8. Light. Fairy/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2500. Defense: 2500.

"When Bloom Star is fusion summoned, her attack increases by 300 for each Melodious monster in my graveyard and face up in my extra deck and a monster you control loses that much this turn. I have five in the graveyard and four in my extra deck so that's a total of 2700 attack points. The monster I pick will be Rune-Eyes."

Bloom Star the Melodious Concert. Attack: 5200.

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 300.

"Now I attack Rune-Eyes with Bloom Star and since both of my monsters were summoned from the extra deck this turn, Allegro the Melodious Diva's pendulum effect makes them unaffected by card effects this turn. Go, Fleur Cannon Finale!"

"I activate my face down card. Last Minute Cancel. All my monsters are switched to defense mode and any Performapal destroyed this turn returns to my hand." Yuya says as he activates his trap. His monsters take a defensive stance to protect him with Rune-Eyes getting destroyed.

"Then I attack Performapal Cheermole with Bloom Lead. Since Bloom Lead is attacking a special summoned monster, you'll take damage equal to that monster's attack when it's destroyed." Yuya explains as her monster destroys Yuya's.

Yuya: 800 life points.

Yuzu sets two cards face down and ends her turn causing Bloom Star's attack to return to normal. The two cards she set are a Continuous Trap Uninterrupted Number and a Counter Trap Melodious Duet. Uninterrupted Number makes it so that Yuya can't play magic or trap cards when a Melodious monster battles a special summoned monster to seal off any use of action cards. Melodious Duet can increase the attack of a battling Melodious monster Yuzu controls by the same amount as the attack of a monster face up in her extra deck during the battle so her monsters won't be overpowered.

"My turn and I draw." Yuya says. "I activate Tricky Performance. By discarding a Performapal monster from my hand, I can now pick any normal trap from my deck and banish it in order to activate its effect. I discard Performapal Cheermole and the trap card I choose will be Pendulum Curtain Change so I send Monochrome Magician and Spectrum Magician to my extra deck and in their place I bring back Stargazer Magician and Timegazer Magician!"

Yuya's scales: 1-8.

"I don't know what you're planning Yuya but just in case, I activate Uninterrupted Performance! Now you can't activate magic or trap cards when you battle my Melodious monsters." Yuzu says.

"Yeah but with Stargazer and Timegazer, you can't do the same either when my pendulum monsters battle." Yuya points out. "Speaking of, it's time to bring them back. Pendulum summon! Appear Monochrome Magician, Spectrum Magician, and returning once again, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Monochrome Magician. Level: 5. Light. Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 1000. Defense: 2100.

Spectrum Magician. Level: 5. Light. Spellcaster/Pendulum/Effect. Attack: 2100. Defense: 1000.

"Now, I activate Spectrum Magician's effect. Once per turn, I can increase a pendulum summoned monster's attack points by 400 for each pendulum monster I control. I choose Odd-Eyes so his attack goes up by 1200 this turn. Rainbow Refraction!" Spectrum Magician lifts up her sword and releases a rainbow colored energy that engulfs Odd-Eyes to power it up.

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Attack: 3700.

"Next I activate Monochrome Magician's effect. Once per turn, I can return a monster to the hand whose attack is equal to or lower than a monster I pendulum summoned this turn. So I return Bloom Star back to your extra since her attack is lower than Odd-Eyes. Grayscale Reflection!"

Monochrome Magician's mirror shield shows a black and white reflection of Odd-Eyes and blasts a shot of light that returns the Melodious fusion monster back to Yuzu's extra deck.

"Now I attack Bloom Lead with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Spiral Strike Burst!" At Yuya's command, his signature dragon breathes a cyclone of many brilliant colors.

" _Stargazer Magician seals away magic cards so the action cards are now useless."_ Yuri comments.

" _And with Timegazer Magician, that obvious face down trap can't be used."_ Yugo adds.

" _With Odd-Eyes ability to double battle damage this duel is over."_ Yuto finishes.

As the attack continues, Yuzu smirks. "I discard Capriccio the Melodious Diva from my hand. When a Melodious monster I control battles and there is a special summoned monster that has gained attack points, I can make my monster gain the same amount of attack points for this battle."

Bloom Lead the Melodious Concert. Attack: 3700.

" _Yuzu can't use magic or trap cards but she still has monster effects."_ Ruri points out.

" _Plus Uninterrupted Number prevents action cards from stopping the attack."_ Rin states.

" _Both monsters will be destroyed but since Odd-Eyes was special summoned, Yuya will take damage equal to its attack from Bloom Lead so it's Yuzu's win."_ Serena concludes.

"Bloom Lead counter attack! Spring Chorus!" Yuzu commands as her monster shouts a lovely but powerful blast of sound with a twister of flowers surrounding it.

The two equally powerful pendulum monsters clash with Odd-Eyes spinning flames of many captivating colors and Bloom Lead's song-like attack that shows flowers flying about as if people were throwing them after a grand performance. The duel between light and sound ends with both monsters being destroyed as well as their respective controllers being launched back from the real shockwaves their destruction created.

What surprises everyone is that after the clash, a blinding light engulfs the entire field as Yuya and Yuzu fly back. While Bloom Lead's effect takes effect to diminish what's left of Yuya's life points, the boy can't help but just smile as he utters one sentence.

"That was a fun duel, Yuzu."

Yuya: 0 life points. Yuzu wins.

 **Note: And one more chapter left.**


	19. Epilogue

Yuya blinks and sees that he's in a void. It's familiar since the void is the mindscape he and his counterparts share when they aren't out and in control of their body. Being here right now is bizarre to Yuya because he was just having a duel with Yuzu at You Show Duel School and got blown back by the Real Solid Vision. The thing that made things stranger is that when he looks around he sees Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri also present wondering what's happening.

"Guys, what just happened?" Yuya asks his counterparts.

"Not sure. The moment Yuzu activated that monster effect from her hand both her monster and yours were destroyed. I'm assuming you lost and then this." Yuto says.

"Hang on. If Yuya loss then that means the duel's over so shouldn't we be in our own bodies now?" Yugo says.

"The fact that all four of us are here means something must have happened. The real question is what exactly." Yuri brings up.

"I'm still not sure. I wish we could–." Yuya turns while looking around and sees something that stuns him. "No way."

"What is it Yuya?" Yuto asks. Yuya just points at where he's looking and the other boys become just as shocked as him. A good distance from them they see all four of the bracelet girls also looking around the mindscape wondering what's going on. The sight of the girls quickly makes them happy as they run toward them with each one shouting the name of the girl from their respective dimension.

"Serena!"

"Rin!"

"Ruri!"

Yuzu!"

All four bracelet girls hear them and when they turn to see the dragon boys running to them smiling they immediately do the same.

"Yuri!"

"Yugo!"

"Yuto!"

"Yuya!"

Unfortunately, their soon-to-be happy reunion gets interrupted when both groups run smack into an invisible wall.

"OW!"

"What the hell is this?" Yugo asks as he pushes on the invisible barrier keeping them a good ten feet from the other.

"No clue. It seems to be some kind of barrier." Serena answers while banging on it with her fist.

"That much is obvious but it doesn't explain how we can all be in the same place and how we can now talk to all four of the guys now." Rin points out.

"We're all in the mind that much we do know." Yuya says.

"Yeah but now that you mention it Yuya are we all in the same mind?" Yuto asks making the others think a bit more critically about what's going on.

"Are you suggesting that the reason this barrier or something is here is because we're communicating to each from our own minds?" Yuzu asks.

"So does this mean that this is some kind of telepathy?" Ruri questions.

"It's possible. We've been in sync with our thoughts before so maybe this is some extension of it." Yuri says referring to when he and his counterparts synchronized in the past.

"Argh! Being a dimensional counterpart is so annoying. I feel like I need a manual to understand half the stuff about all of us." Yuzu vents before she and her other counterparts notice that the boys are now just staring at something with surprised faces.

"Please say those looks you're giving us are you boys admiring our beauty?" Rin asks hopeful nothing bad is about to happen.

"There's something behind you four." Yugo points behind them.

"Huh. There's something behind you guys too." Serena points out as well.

The two groups of four turn around to see what was in their respective mindscapes with them. On the dragon boys' side is a ghostly white figure with what looks like mist coming from its body as if it was made of dry ice. A similar figure is on the bracelet girls' side but this one is red and tiny balls of light break off from her like floating embers from a campfire. When they give the specters their full attention, both start altering their shape to give themselves a more defined outline. The white one becomes more masculine and resembles a young man with what appears to be hair that's spiked upward. As it creates more defined facial features, the four boys instantly recognize what or who this is.

"Zarc!" Yuya shouts.

All four quickly put up some kind of defensive stance and ready to fight him.

"Wait Zarc is there? Then that means this is Ray." Yuzu realizes as the red specter looks like a young woman with two long pigtails.

Despite trying to look like their old bodies, Zarc and Ray start breaking apart with their lower halves turning into mist and balls of light respectively. They even see they're losing an arm as well. However, neither seems to mind. They look at their own counterparts and smile and wave at them as if they're saying goodbye. As the two disappear with a mist spreading out in dragon boys' mindscape and red sparks in the bracelet girls' before those vanish completely, all eight counterparts don't say a word and just wonder what happened in silence.

Then Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's respective signature dragons start glowing intensely from inside their decks. At the same, Yuzu, Serena, Rin, and Ruri's bracelets each shine a light from them like mad. Eventually, the glowing light from all these becomes stronger and bigger until each of them gets engulfed in their respective light.

Back at You Show Duel School, everyone watching the duel is caught off guard by the large flash of light that occurred when Odd-Eyes and Bloom Lead clashed. It lasted for only a few seconds but when it faded, they all felt scared for Yuya and Yuzu's safety since they were thrown back from the blast. In fact, Shuzo and Smiley ran out of the control room to head to the action field to check to see if the two are all right. After a screen pops up declaring Yuzu the winner of the duel and the Real Solid Vision starts fading away, Yuya opens his eyes and gets up from the ground

"Was all of that real?"

"Chances are that it probably was."

Yuya turns to the person next to him that just spoke and sees that it's Yuto in his own body.

"Yuto. You have your own body!" Yuya shouts.

"Yuya. So do you." Yuto says grinning.

"He's not the only." Yuri says as he and Yugo both get up from the floor seeing that they've indeed separated from one another.

"Alright! We're finally separated!" Yugo cheers.

All four of them then hear a girl scream happily and look across the field to see Yuzu hugging Serena in joy.

"Serena, you're back!" Yuzu says hugging her fusion side.

"I noticed. Looks like your duel separated us." Serena smiles.

"We're really back." Rin says also smiling.

"If we're back then that means." Ruri says before seeing the boys and runs in their direction. "Yuto!"

"Ruri!" Yuto runs off toward his girlfriend. Before the two could finally reunite in their own bodies someone calls out to them.

"Ruri! Yuto!" The xyz couple soon finds themselves each embraced in an arm by Shun. He hugs the two both tightly as tears fall from his eyes.

"Ruri! Yuto! You two are back! You're both really back!"

Ruri also starts crying at the sight of her sobbing older brother and returns the hug. Yuto warmly smiles at the sight of this reunion. One that's about to get bigger as everyone starts coming onto the field to welcome the counterparts back.

Yuto and Ruri are also welcomed back by Allen, Sayaka, Kaito, and Haruto. Yugo jumped to hug Rin during this who accepts it completely with Crow, Shinji, Chojiro and the kids going up to welcome the two fellow Commons with Jack slapping Yugo on the back. Serena and Yuri are being surrounded by Sora, Dennis, BB, and the Tyler Sisters, but the two didn't feel bothered by it one bit. Being teachers and school faculty, Asuka, Edo, and Noro express happiness that two of the their school's students are now safe. Yuya and Yuzu are, of course, getting hugged by their respective parents who express how proud they are of them since they've grown a lot in skill from they saw in their duel. Gongenzaka expresses how happy he's friends with them with some many tears and Smiley tells Yuya how glad he is that he's became this great while also mentioning how Yuzu has a good future ahead of her as well. Sawatari, Mieru, Masumi, Hakuto, and Yaiba also welcome them back too with Sawatari and Masumi talking about how their respective rivals have gotten stronger.

The only ones who don't go to welcome the counterparts are the Akaba family and Tsukikage and Hikage. Reiji looks at a small handheld device and turns to Tsukikage and Hikage.

"Tsukikage. Hikage. If you two want to go welcome them back then you may. I need to talk to my family in private." Silently nodding at their boss's order, the two ninjas disappeared and reappeared around the welcome party without anyone noticing.

"Reiji. Do you have the readings of the energy?" Leo asks his son anxiously.

"Yes. I do. The readings were just sent now from the scanners at Leo Corp."

"What do they say?" Himika asks.

"Just as father had predicted the duel energy readings would be at their strongest on this day. From the data at hand, it seems when Yuya and Yuzu's monsters clashed to decide the victor of the duel there was a massive spike. It's probably what caused that bright light everyone saw. However after that, the energy instantly plummeted to zero."

"Are you sure?" Leo says.

"We may have to double check back at Leo Corp. to analyze the data thoroughly, but if there is any energy left, it would be at most at .0001% and that's me being very generous." Reiji pushes up his glasses with his finger.

"Father. The experiment was a success. Zarc and Ray are gone."

Leo falls back against a wall and slides down onto the floor when Reiji spoke those words. He felt a turmoil of emotions from this, but he soon spoke. "It had to be done. I didn't want to accept it when I tried to get my little girl back, but I was just stalling the inevitable. When they first fought and she used the En cards, Ray and Zarc were no more and those four girls and four boys took their place. They could never have fully come back."

Reiji gets down on one knee so he can talk to his father eye to eye. "This needed to be done. Yuya, Yuzu, and their counterparts have lives of their own. I understand what you had to do but Ray couldn't fully return."

"I wish I never remembered any of it. I convinced myself that it was the right move yet I ended up seeing four worlds as disposable, four innocent boys as a demon, and four girls as someone else. Ray said the world needed me after Zarc was gone and I just stomped on her request because of my own selfishness."

Leo cries as he repents. Reiji and Himika, who's holding Reira, sit next to him to comfort him.

"You're not the only one who did wrong in the name of a good cause." Reiji confesses. "I wanted to stop this war you caused, but like you I would do anything to do it. I stooped to doing many questionable things from manipulating people to forcing others to fight in said war. If I wasn't around people like Yusho or Yuya, I don't know how far I would've fallen."

"We've all done things that were wrong and we'll have to live them." Himika says as she looks at baby Reira feeling guilt over what she did to the child and hating herself for it. She then gives a comforting smile as she hands her over to Leo. "But that doesn't mean we can make them define who we are forever. Especially when we want to change."

Leo takes Reira, who's smiling at him, and he returns it with Reiji and Himika smiling as well.

After everyone welcomes the dragon boys and bracelet girls back, they leave to have a welcome back party at the school, which was set up earlier. However, before they start, Yuya requests to speak to Reiji privately in order to confirm something. Reiji obliged so they're talking in one of the classrooms with the door closed.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Reiji asks feeling he knew what Yuya will ask.

"The moment our duel ended, I entered what I believe was my mind. Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, and I saw Zarc. The same thing happened to Yuzu, Serena, Rin, and Ruri. They saw Ray." Yuya says in complete seriousness.

"I see. What happened when all of you saw them?"

"They disappeared and after that we were separated. Reiji did you know that would happen?"

"The details are a bit sketchy and even I don't fully understand all of it, but yes I did know that would happen. You see Reira didn't take on all of Zarc's soul. I thought she did but it would be more accurate to say that she took on the corrupt part of him, which you purified after returning her smile."

"I know that but I want to know what we saw."

Reiji pushes up his glasses as he explains. "You see Zarc and Ray were still around in a since but at the same time they weren't."

"What do you mean?"

"After Reira dealt with Zarc, he came back and was still around inside you and your counterparts. The same was true for Ray with Yuzu and her counterparts. You see the reason you and Yuzu came back merged with your counterparts was because you two were technically still Zarc and Ray respectively. It's just that due to a number of factors, all of you were in a paradox state where you were neither whole nor separated."

"Uh, you had me until you started talking about a 'pair of ducks'." Yuya looks baffled from Reiji's explanation and not knowing the meaning of the word paradox.

"To use a simple analogy, imagine all the ingredients needed to make a cake in a single bowl but they're still in their packaging. Everything needed is together but they can't mix to fully become one."

"Ok I think I understand." Yuya says then remembers what Reiji said earlier about him still being Zarc and starts screaming. "Wait, the others and I were still Zarc!"

"Yes. However, he and Ray couldn't fully come back ever. When Ray first used the En cards, they were separated permanently. If they ever did come back the form would be incomplete. That's why when Zarc was revived he used your body as his own and why Ray seemed more like a spirit than anything. Reira drove it further when she used the En cards resulting in the situation you and the others were earlier in. In short, you eight took their places and they would be gone."

"Then what about the fast couple of weeks where we spent time together? Or how about how our decks changed depending on which counterpart we dueled? Was there anything you didn't tell us?"

"The part about spending time together with a different counterpart was accurate that if you spent time together for a long period you could separate and that dueling each other would enhance the energy. What my father and I didn't say was that the duel energy from the different summoning styles you eight give off is quite high and a combination of strong pendulum, fusion, xyz, and synchro dueling energy would be enough to forcibly remove each counterpart in order to perform the separation. We could've used the En cards to speed up the process but that had too many dangers. To see if it would be a success, while testing you guys on the day we came back, I put tech in each of your duel discs to help monitor the energy readings should you go someplace outside of Maiami City."

"You tampered with our duel discs!"

"All I did was add an energy recorder and a transmitter. It's nothing serious, can easily be removed, and exist only for collecting raw data. That's it. As for your decks, I'm not sure. My best guess would be that since Zarc and Ray had the power to create cards, your time spent with a different counterpart may have affected each other's decks because of that. Regardless, Zarc and Ray are both now gone and you and the others are separated now. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us that we were still technically Zarc and Ray?" Yuya responds feeling more and more serious.

"I felt it was best you didn't know. You and Yuzu have been through a lot and I chose to spare you the stress." Reiji admits.

"Hey I could handle it." Yuya raises his voice.

"No you couldn't. Listen, Zarc stresses me out. I never want to deal with someone like that ever again in my life and I would like to point out that I'm a 16-year-old who's the CEO of a major corporation, have spent the past three years planning to fight a war, am currently dealing with working on relations and damage with four different dimensions, and until today came from a broken family. If I can't deal with Zarc, what makes you think you can, Yuya?" Reiji raises his voice now as he vents out his issues. Yuya doesn't have a response.

Reiji takes a breather and continues. "It doesn't matter. You and your counterparts are now separated along with Yuzu and her own, and this whole mess can be put behind us. So why don't we go celebrate."

When Yuya sees Reiji smile, he returns it with his own smile and a nod. As Yuya opens the door for them to leave, the pendulum counterpart gets surprised as Yuzu, Yuto, Ruri, Yuri, Serena, Yugo, and Rin all fall on top of him since they were secretly listening in on the conversation through the door.

"Uh, we can explain." Yuzu sheepishly blushes as all eight try to help each other up off the floor with varying looks of guilt on their faces. Except for Yuya who's recovering from being crushed.

"Just go to the party." Reiji sighs.

"We will." Yuzu says. "Um, Reiji could you tell everyone we'll be there in a minute. We want some time alone with each other."

Reiji nods and leaves. A bit later, all eight counterparts sort through the cards in their deck boxes to confirm something.

"Well it looks like they're all here. All the cards created in our duels against each other including the ones we didn't use." Yuzu says.

"I do wonder why Zarc and Ray would alter our decks like this?" Yuto ponders.

"Maybe they wanted to help us out?" Ruri guesses.

"Or maybe they wanted to move on." Yuri believes.

"Well either way, they left us an interesting parting gift." Rin states.

"Yeah and a confusing show with that disappearing act." Yugo adds.

"So it looks like it's really over." Serena says.

"Yeah. It is." Yuya confirms. "We've been through a lot and now it's over."

There's a brief moment from all of them until it's broken by Yuya breaking out in laughter. This is followed up with Yuzu doing the same and soon all of them are laughing together.

"We've been through a lot but these past sixteen days together have been something." Yuzu says.

"Any day when you have to share a body while hearing voices in your head is something of noting." Yuya laughs.

"But it was fun like Yuzu and I riding around Heartland." Yugo says.

"Or when Yuya took me to the amusement park on the first day. I really hope I can go back there." Rin adds with Yuya and Yuzu groaning as they recall their time with the two thrill seekers differently.

"Learning to ride a D-Wheel was a pretty eventful experience." Ruri claims.

"Not as much as busting up a crime lord." Yuto mentions.

"Though I think what was an eventful experience was seeing someone like Ruri openly mad at someone. I didn't think she had a limit." Yuri brings up. Ruri got a little embarrassed remembering that she did explode at Allen for what he kept saying to Yuri.

"No the real experience was going to a school dance with you." Serena smugly ribs making Yuri blush.

"Actually now that we're separated, what are you guys going to do now?" Yuya asks.

"Obviously Ruri and I are going back to the Xyz Dimension. Heartland won't feel the same but we still have lives there." Yuto responds.

"True it's not fully repaired yet, but it's our home and it would be good for us to return." Ruri claims.

"Yuri and I have to go back to Academy. We're still students there though this time I finally have some freedom." Serena says.

"Plus if we don't, you know Sora and Dennis will just bug us until we do." Yuri remarks.

"Rin and I still have the promise we made to win the Fortune Cup so we're heading back to synchro to train for it." Yugo says.

"Plus with Commons and Tops being more united, I'm curious to see what our life back at the City will be like this time." Rin adds.

"Well we hope things go good for all of you and I also hope we still get see each other." Yuzu says with everyone nodding in agreement.

"Come on now. Everybody's waiting for us." Yuya says as he holds Yuzu's hand.

Yuto and Ruri follow behind, with Ruri leaning against Yuto who responds by lovingly putting his hand on her shoulder, and then Yugo and Rin with Rin hooking her arm around Yugo's. Yuri and Serena feel like rolling their eyes at their counterparts but they just give loving smiles to each other as they walk to the party holding hands.

The counterparts' welcome back party lasted a while and was something everyone enjoyed. Among many things that went on, Ruri spent some time getting to know Crow since he and Shun are now good friends. Serena reconnects with the Lancers. Yuzu, Masumi, and Asuka discuss fusion techniques with Yugo talking to Yaiba and Jack about synchro summoning and Riding Duels respectively. Rin plays with the kids some since she liked doing so from her time at the orphanage. Yuto hangs around Chojiro and Yusho, the latter feeling like a respectable father figure since he tried to help out his home. Yuya hangs around BB some while Mieru and Grace gush about his skills with Gloria pretending not to care. Yuri actually gets along with Sayaka and Allen, the latter giving the rest of the counterparts their own rollerboots. He feels more people will be wearing them in the future but he wanted to give each them their own.

Eventually the party ends and everyone is at the portal hub saying their goodbyes to one another. Reiji decides to let the counterparts still use them freely but he would like to be informed ahead of time just so they don't abuse this privilege. The whole group separate and enter a portal back to their respective dimension. Even though they're going back home, everybody's lives are now different, but they go live them with a smile.

 **Note: Done. Thank you everyone for reading. This was enjoyable to write and an interesting experience. It's funny how like so many others I started this because I didn't like the ending to ARC V because if I did think it was good then I wouldn't have gained the desire to write this. Arc V is still my favorite of the Yugioh series though I still need to see the last few episodes of Zexal and only saw the first episode of VRains (who comes up with these names for the post-DM animes).**

 **The scene in the mindscape with Zarc came to me from after reading the Mistborn: Secret History novella. If you aren't familiar with the book, it starts off with the protagonist dying and entering a limbo world where he meets his world's god. It's an interesting opening chapter especially when the first thing the protagonist does is punch said god. I actually wish I wrote a scene where the Yu-boys all punch Zarc when they see him but I chose to go with atmosphere instead. Sigh. I may write more Arc V stories in the future since I like the characters and world since I have some ideas but we'll see.**

 **Once again, thank you for reading.**


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